Court Grants Motion For Contempt

Posted: December 3, 2025 / Written by: Samuel L. Butt, Channing J. Turner, Joshua Wurtzel, Thomas A. Kissane, Jeffrey M. Eilender / Categories Commercial, Contempt

Court Grants Motion For Contempt

On October 29, 2025, in 5 Beekman Property Owner v. Henick-Lane, Inc., Index No. 657290/2019, Justice Andrew Borrok granted defendant’s motion or contempt against plaintiffs based on plaintiffs’ refusal to return $850,000 mistakenly sent to plaintiffs that the Court had, on several occasions, ordered be returned to Henick-Lane. The Court explained:

Unquestionably, on the record before the Court, Henick-Lane has established by clear and convincing evidence (i) a lawful order of the court clearly expressing an unequivocal mandate was in effect, (ii) it appears with reasonable certainty that the order has been disobeyed, (iii) the party to be held in contempt had knowledge of the court’s order, and (iv) the right of a party to the litigation is prejudiced (El-Dehdan v El-Dehdan, 26 NY3d 19, 29 [2015]); Classe v Silverberg, 168 AD3d 603, 604 [1st Dept 2019]). As such, the motion seeking to hold the Plaintiffs in contempt is GRANTED.

The Court accordingly ordered, again, the $850,000 returned, with interest, and awarded Henick-Lane its attorneys’ fees and costs.

Contact the Commercial Division Blog Committee at commercialdivisionblog@schlamstone.com if you or a client have questions concerning contempt.