Summary
affirming denial of summary judgment where contract provided that consent could not be unreasonably withheld as "defendant's actions must be reasonable and, accordingly, are not sheltered from review by the business judgment rule"
Summary of this case from Todd English Enters., LLC v. Hudson Home Grp., LLCOpinion
150338/12 -14686, 14685, 14684
03-31-2015
Richard SILVER, Plaintiff–Respondent, v. MURRAY HOUSE OWNERS CORP., Defendant–Appellant.
Braverman Greenspun, P.C., New York (Tracy Peterson of counsel), for appellant. Lewis and Garbuz, P.C., New York (Michael Andrews of counsel), for respondent.
Braverman Greenspun, P.C., New York (Tracy Peterson of counsel), for appellant.
Lewis and Garbuz, P.C., New York (Michael Andrews of counsel), for respondent.
Opinion Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Anil C. Singh, J.), entered December 13, 2013, which, to the extent appealed from, denied defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, unanimously affirmed, without costs. Order, same court and Justice, entered February 24, 2014, which, to the extent appealed from, denied defendant's motion to renew its motion for summary judgment, unanimously affirmed, without costs. Order, same court and Justice, entered March 14, 2014, which, to the extent appealed from, granted plaintiff's motion for leave to amend the complaint, unanimously reversed, on the law, without costs, and the motion denied.
Pursuant to the proprietary lease between the parties, defendant's consent to plaintiff's alteration shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed. Thus, the motion court correctly determined that defendant's actions must be reasonable and, accordingly, are not sheltered from review by the business judgment rule (see Rosenthal v. One Hudson Park, 269 A.D.2d 144, 145, 701 N.Y.S.2d 899 [1st Dept.2000] ; Seven Park Ave. Corp. v. Green, 277 A.D.2d 123, 715 N.Y.S.2d 697 [1st Dept.2000], lv. dismissed 96 N.Y.2d 853, 729 N.Y.S.2d 669, 754 N.E.2d 772 [2001] ). The court also properly found that there are issues of fact as to whether defendant's action “was in fact reasonable, i.e., legitimately related to the welfare of the cooperative” (Seven Park Ave., 277 A.D.2d at 123, 715 N.Y.S.2d 697 ; see Rosenthal, 269 A.D.2d at 145, 701 N.Y.S.2d 899 ). Contrary to defendant's claim, the court's denial of defendant's summary judgment motion was not based solely on a new theory of liability that plaintiff had failed to plead in his complaint.
The court correctly rejected defendant's argument that plaintiff had unclean hands (see National Distillers & Chem. Corp. v. Seyopp Corp., 17 N.Y.2d 12, 15–16, 267 N.Y.S.2d 193, 214 N.E.2d 361 [1966] ). Based on his experience on defendant's board, plaintiff had a good-faith belief that merely replacing his previously-approved HVAC units did not constitute an “alteration” within the meaning of paragraph 21(a) of the proprietary lease.
The court properly denied defendant's motion to renew since defendant failed to proffer “new facts ... that would change the prior determination” (CPLR 2221[e][2] [emphasis added] ).
The motion court improvidently exercised its discretion in granting plaintiff's motion because the proposed amendment lacks merit (see Mosaic Caribe, Ltd. v. AllSettled Group, Inc., 117 A.D.3d 421, 422, 985 N.Y.S.2d 33 [1st Dept.2014] ). Plaintiff added a cause of action for “selective enforcement” which is defined as “[t]he practice of law-enforcement officers who use wide or even unfettered discretion about when and where to carry out certain laws” (Black's Law Dictionary 1564 [10th ed. 2014] [emphasis added] ), and does not lie against a private actor (see National Assn. of Sec. Dealers, Inc. v. Fiero, 33 A.D.3d 547, 548, 827 N.Y.S.2d 4 [1st Dept.2006], revd. on other grounds sub nom. Financial Indus. Regulatory Auth., Inc. v. Fiero, 10 N.Y.3d 12, 853 N.Y.S.2d 267, 882 N.E.2d 879 [2008] ). Accordingly, we deny plaintiff's motion for leave to amend.
FRIEDMAN, J.P., RENWICK, MOSKOWITZ, RICHTER, CLARK, JJ., concur.