Opinion
Index No. 651365/2021 MOTION SEQ. No. 001
07-15-2022
LAURA SANTANA, Plaintiff, v. ARTS IN COMMON LLC, HARLEM JAZZ ENT LLC, RICHARD PARSONS, ALBERTO CRH3IORE, RONALD PERELMAN, VINCENT MAI, KENNETH LERER, ED LEWIS, RONALD LOUDER, NANCY ANGELONE, MARK BENAVIDES, MIZAN AYERS, THE NEW YORK CITY HOUSING DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, THE NEW YORK STATE LIQUOR AUTHORITY, RAPHAEL BACCUS, Defendants.
Unpublished Opinion
PRESENT: HON. BARBARA JAFFE, Justice
DECISION + ORDER ON MOTION
BARBARA JAFFE, J.S.C.
The following e-filed documents, listed by NYSCEF document number (Motion 001) 6-15, 17-20 were read on this motion to dismiss_.
By pre-answer notice of motion, defendant Harlem Jazz Enterprises LLC (Jazz) moves for an order dismissing all claims against it, and defendant Arts in Common, LLC (Arts) moves for an order dismissing the first and third through tenth claims against it. Plaintiff opposes.
I. PERTINENT PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
In this action, plaintiff sues defendants for their failure to pay her overtime wages during her employment with them. She advances as her causes of action: (1) defendants' violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by failing to pay her properly for her overtime work; (2) defendants' violation of the New York Labor Law (NYLL) by failing to pay her properly for her overtime work; (3) defendants' violation of their implied-in-fact agreement with her by failing to pay her overtime; (4) defendants' violation of their quasi-contractual arrangement with plaintiff; (5) defendants are equitably estopped by virtue of their failure to pay her; (6) defendants fraudulently induced her to provide services without intending to pay her for them, thereby entitling her to compensatory and punitive damages; (7) defendants' conduct caused her extreme emotional distress; (8) defendants' conduct was extreme and malicious and constitutes aprimafacie tort; (9) the premises at issue is leased to Jazz, and the lease requires it to comply with all applicable laws, which it failed to do by engaging in discrimination and having a judgment entered against it in an unrelated matter, thus requiring cancellation of the lease; and (10) as defendants' conduct also violated the liquor license obtained for the premises, it must be cancelled. (NYSCEF 1).
On May 13, 2021, defendants filed a notice of removal of the case to federal court (NYSCEF 3), and by stipulation dated November 11, 2021, the parties agreed that the case would be remanded to this court, and that "all Federal claims that Plaintiff asserted or could have asserted against all of the Defendants, including those pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act, are Dismissed with Prejudice and the Complaint will be deemed amended to exclude any Federal claims." (NYSCEF 5).
II. MOTION TO DISMISS
A. FLS A Claim (first cause of action)
Discontinued. (NYSCEF 17).
B. NYLL claim against Jazz (second cause of action)
Jazz establishes that it is solely the leaseholder for the premises at issue and that it had no employment relationship with plaintiff (NYSCEF 7), which plaintiff does not rebut. There is thus no basis for holding Jazz liable for the failure to pay plaintiff overtime wages.
C. Implied-in-fact contract (third cause of action); quasi-contract (fourth cause of action); equitable estoppel (fifth cause of action); prima facie tort (eighth cause of action)
Dismissed as duplicative of plaintiff s NYLL claim. (See Ethelberth v Choice Sec. Co., 91 F.Supp.3d 339 [ED NY 2015] [dismissing plaintiffs common law claims for breach of contract and unjust enrichment seeking overtime wages as duplicative of FLSA and NYLL claims for same]).
Moreover, an at-will employment relationship, such as that between plaintiff and defendants, is not subject to a quasi-contract principles. (See Campbell v Self Initiated Living Options, Inc., 134 A.D.3d 757 [2d Dept 2015] [at-will employee failed to state claim for implied contract]; Grebinar v Consolidated Edison of New York, Inc., 12 A.D.3d 277 [1st Dept 2004], Iv denied 4 NY3d 708 [2005] [at-will employment precluded claims for breach of contract and implied contract]). Equitable estoppel is also inapplicable (Raphael v Vintage Grape & Grog, Ltd., 187 A.D.3d 672 [1st Dept 2020], Iv denied37 NY3d 903 [2021], reargdenied37 N.Y.3d 1084 [2021] [equitable estoppel does not apply to at-will employment relationship as employer owes no fiduciary duty to at-will employee]), as is prima facie tort (Ullman v Norma Kamali, Inc., 207 A.D.2d 691 [1st Dept 1994] [dismissing prima facie tort in at-will employment context as improper attempt to circumvent at-will employment rules]).
D. Fraud (sixth cause of action)
Dismissed as duplicative of plaintiff s NYLL claim. (See, e.g., Kaur v Royal Arcadia Palace, Inc., 643 F.Supp.2d 276 [ED NY 2007] [dismissing fraud claim as duplicative of FLSA claim for same unpaid wages]).
E. Intentional infliction of emotional distress (seventh cause of action)
Dismissed as insufficiently pleaded absent allegations of extreme and outrageous conduct. (See eg, Karupaiyan v CVS Health Corp., 2021 WL 4341132 [SD NY 2021] [failure to pay wages does not constitute IIED]; Langone v Facsimile Communication Indus., Inc., 2019 WL 367712 [Sup Ct, New York County 2019] [dismissing IIED based on allegations that defendant employer discriminated against plaintiff and failed to pay him wages]).
F. Claims related to lease and liquor license (ninth and tenth causes of action)
Plaintiff pleads no facts from which it may be inferred that she has standing to pursue the cancellation of defendants' lease and/or liquor license, nor does she plead a viable claim related thereto.
III. CONCLUSION
Accordingly, it is hereby
ORDERED, that movants' motion is granted to the extent of severing and dismissing: (1) all claims against defendant Harlem Jazz Enterprises LLC; and (2) the first and third through tenth claims against Arts in Common, LLC, and the clerk is directed to enter judgment accordingly.