Fishkin Lucks obtained complete dismissal of all seven claims asserted against its clients in the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division - Second Department. The plaintiff, a former advisor to the firm’s clients, alleged that he had been promised ownership of valuable Nassau County real estate, asserted multiple contract, quasi-contract, and equitable theories to enforce that alleged promise, and sought additional damages for purportedly defamatory statements about his management of a trust.
On appeal from the trial court’s denial of a motion to dismiss, the Appellate Division reversed and ordered dismissal of the complaint in its entirety. The Court held that the plaintiff’s contract-based and related equitable claims were barred by the statute of frauds and by the terms of written leases, rejected his promissory estoppel and constructive trust theories, and ruled that the challenged statements were nonactionable opinions rather than false statements of fact.
Following the Appellate Division’s ruling, Fishkin Lucks secured a further win for its clients in the trial court at the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Nassau County - Commercial Division. Acknowledging that the Appellate Division had already dismissed the complaint in its entirety, the trial court lifted a previously issued preliminary injunction that had been staying the client’s pending summary holdover proceeding concerning the same Nassau County property against the plaintiff. The court also set the defendants’ claim for damages against the plaintiff’s $500,000injunction bond for a hearing.
