Opinion
9766 Index 653847/15 File 1388/17B
06-27-2019
Allan LANDIS, Plaintiff–Appellant, v. 383 REALTY CORP., et al., Defendants–Respondents, Sally Carrubba, Defendant.
Knox Law Group, P.C., New York (Daniel Knox of counsel), for appellant. Ganfer Shore Leeds & Zauderer LLP, New York (Mark A. Berman of counsel), for respondents.
Knox Law Group, P.C., New York (Daniel Knox of counsel), for appellant.
Ganfer Shore Leeds & Zauderer LLP, New York (Mark A. Berman of counsel), for respondents.
Friedman, J.P., Gische, Kapnick, Singh, JJ.
Order, Surrogate's Court, New York County (Nora Anderson, S.), entered on or about December 6, 2018, which denied plaintiff's motion for summary judgment, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
This action was commenced in Supreme Court and transferred to Surrogate's Court upon the death of defendant Bunita L. Weiner. Before the transfer, plaintiff had moved for summary judgment, and Supreme Court (Barry Ostrager, J.) had denied the motion in an order entered July 31, 2017. That ruling, which plaintiff did not appeal, remained law of the case and could not be contravened by a court of coordinate jurisdiction ( Grossman v. Meller, 213 A.D.2d 221, 224, 623 N.Y.S.2d 857 [1st Dept. 1995] ). Thus, the Surrogate correctly denied the instant motion for summary judgment on the ground that, as she said, "the substance of [plaintiff's] motion was already squarely decided against him" by Supreme Court.
The Surrogate also properly denied plaintiff's alternative request for leave to replead the fraudulent conveyance cause of action (see Pasalic v. O'Sullivan, 294 A.D.2d 103, 104, 741 N.Y.S.2d 39 [1st Dept. 2002] ). Plaintiff was granted leave to replead in an order of Supreme Court (Barry Ostrager, J.) entered May 10, 2017, and the repleaded cause of action was subsequently dismissed by the court in the same order that denied plaintiff's motion for summary judgment.