Opinion
Motion No: M-71
01-28-2020
Pensmore Investments, LLC, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. The Jane Michael 1999 Trust, Claire Gruppo as Trustee for The Jane Michael 1999 Trust, the Claire Gruppo Trustee, The Trustee for the Claire Gruppo Trust, January Management, Inc., Magic Management, LLC, Claire Gruppo, Hugh Levey, January Partners, L.P., and Frog Pond Partners, L.P. Defendants-Appellants, Gruppo, Levey & Co., et al., Defendants.
Appeals having been taken to this Court from (i) an order of the Supreme Court, New York County, entered on or about May 14, 2019, which directed the Clerk to enter judgment against certain defendants in the amount of $4,115,067.14 plus interest, awarded attorneys' fees to plaintiff upon submission of legal bills, and held defendant Claire Gruppo in criminal contempt and sentenced her to 30 days in jail to report on June 28, 2019, and (ii) an order of the same court entered June 5, 2019, which directed judgment against defendant Claire Gruppo and certain other defendants in principal amount of $394,349.89, and judgment of same court, entered June 6, 2019, based on the prior orders; and the appeal from the criminal contempt portion of the order having been perfected, And defendants-appellants having moved for an order: (i) adjourning the perfected appeal; (ii) granting them leave to withdraw their appellants' brief and to file a substitute brief that addresses the remaining civil portions of the appeal; (iii) an extension of time to file their new brief; and (iv) leave to increase the page limit of their new brief; And an order of a Justice of this Court, dated January 2, 2020 having adjourned the perfected appeal to the March 2020 Term and having continued the stay of defendant Claire Gruppo's criminal contempt and incarceration, initially granted by order of this Court entered July 11, 2019 (M-3047/3048), pending the determination of the appeal, Now, upon reading and filing the papers with respect to the motion, and due deliberation having been had thereon, It is ordered that the motion is granted to the extent of granting defendants-appellants permission to file a supplemental brief solely addressing the civil judgment against defendants for the May 2020 Term, to which term the perfected appeal is adjourned, and continuing the aforesaid stay pending the determination of the appeal. The motion is otherwise denied.
ENTERED: January 28, 2020
__________ CLERK
Present - Hon. Rolando T. Acosta, Presiding Justice, Rosalyn H. Richter Barbara R. Kapnick Angela M. Mazzarelli Peter H. Moulton, Justices
M-71
Index No. 650002/14