Opinion
4565, 26133/04.
10-03-2017
Philip LEE, et al., Plaintiffs–Appellants, v. KENT HAZZARD JAEGER WILSON FAY & CONROY also known as Kent Hazzard Jaeger Greer Wilson & Fay, et al., Defendants–Respondents, Gretchen Hazzard, etc., Defendant.
Meagher and Meagher, P.C., White Plains (Merryl F. Weiner of counsel), for appellants. Ropers Majeski Kohn & Bentley, New York (Christopher B. Hitchcock of counsel), for respondents.
Meagher and Meagher, P.C., White Plains (Merryl F. Weiner of counsel), for appellants.
Ropers Majeski Kohn & Bentley, New York (Christopher B. Hitchcock of counsel), for respondents.
FRIEDMAN, J.P., MANZANET–DANIELS, KAPNICK, KERN, SINGH, JJ.
Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Kenneth L. Thompson, Jr., J.), entered September 23, 2016, which granted defendants' motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
Plaintiff was unable to demonstrate both that defendant attorneys' attempts to seek enforcement of the settlement agreement in the underlying proceeding and failure to obtain payment of the remaining amount due, execution of a collateral security agreement, and delivery of the corporate shares allegedly owned equally by the parties in that proceeding were the result of a departure from defendants' professional standard of care, and that the sale of the corporation's sole asset prior to payment or delivery of the shares to plaintiff was the "but for" cause of any damages (see Rudolf v. Shayne, Dachs, Stanisci,
Corker & Sauer, 8 N.Y.3d 438, 442, 835 N.Y.S.2d 534, 867 N.E.2d 385 [2007] ). Defendants' failure to obtain the settling obligor's execution of a collateral security agreement is distinguishable from those cases relied upon by plaintiff in which the defendant attorneys failed to properly file executed security agreements (cf. S & D Petroleum Co. v. Tamsett, 144 A.D.2d 849, 534 N.Y.S.2d 800 [3rd Dept.1988] ; Deb–Jo Constr. v. Westphal, 210 A.D.2d 951, 620 N.Y.S.2d 678 [4th Dept.1994] ).
We have considered plaintiff's other contentions and find them unavailing.