Commercial Division Blog: Current Developments in the Commercial Divisions of the New York State Courts

On September 10, 2025, Justice Andrew Borrok denied a motion for summary judgment seeking to recover, as damages for breach of fiduciary duty, monies paid by a condominium and its insurer in settlement of a prior litigation that gave rise to plaintiffs’ fiduciary breach claim. The case is Gilbert v. Winston, Index No. 650374/2023. Read More

On October 4, 2025, Justice Andrea Masley denied a motion to dismiss and granted a stay in deference to two previously-filed federal actions. The case is Comcast Cable Communications Management, LLC v. Entropic Communications, LLC, Index No. 655738/2023. Read More

On June 30, 2025, Justice Andrea Masley granted plaintiffs’ unopposed motion for entry of a default judgment against a corporate defendant that had failed to replace its withdrawn counsel, but declined to enter judgment fixing damages as plaintiffs’ proof was insufficient. The court therefore referred the damages issue to a referee for a hearing. The case is Rhythm Energy, Inc. v. V3 Capital Group, LLC, Index No. 653122/2023: Read More

On March 3, 2025, Justice Andrea Masley granted, in part, a motion to strike interrogatory responses that included calculations of damages foreclosed by prior court rulings. In Richard Hobish, et al., v. AXA Equitable life Insurance Company, Index No. 650315/2017, Defendant AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company asked the Court to strike the plaintiff’s damages calculations on the grounds that they were unsupported by the allegations and prior Court rulings, affirmed by the Appellate Division, had rejected the plaintiff’s theories of consequential and restitutionary damages. The Court granted the motion in part, explaining: Read More

On March 6, 2025, Justice Andrea Masley of the New York County Commercial Division issued a decision in Penske v. National Holding Corp., Index No. 655002/2022, holding that defendants' claim for breach of contract satisfied the dismissal standard even in the absence of damages, explaining: Read More

On May 29, 2024, Justice Andrea Masley granted in part and denied in part a motion to dismiss claims brought against a corporation and its parent under a letter of intent that contemplated an agreement to purchase past-due receivables due to non-parties owned by the non-parent defendant entity. Gramercy Funds Mgt. LLC v Schlumberger N.V., Index No. 653657/2022. Read More

On January 30, 2024, Justice Andrew Borrok granted a motion to dismiss a tenant’s action for money damages brought against its landlord for unreasonably preventing it from reopening following the lifting of government restrictions surrounding COVID-19. The decision in 2M Hospitality Group, LLC v. Sahara Plaza, LLC, Index No. 653345/2023, concluded that a provision in the lease waived the tenant’s right to money damages based on the landlord’s failure to act reasonably or default under the lease. The Court also explained, in part: Read More

In an Opinion, dated May 25, 2023, in BML Properties Ltd. V. China Construction America, Inc., Index No. 657550/2017, Justice Andrew Borrok denied defendants’ motion for summary judgment. The Court previously found that the fraud claims were not duplicative of the breach of contract claims because they relied on misrepresentations of then-current facts regarding the project. In this Opinion, the Court, among other things, refused to preclude plaintiffs, at this stage, from seeking lost damages. The Court explained: Read More

In a Decision and Order, dated August 22, 2022, in 57th & 60th St. Lender LLC v. State Bank of Tex., Index No. 654007/2018, Justice Jennifer Schecter of the New York County Commercial Division found the phrase “repaid in full” in a mortgage loan sale agreement to be ambiguous and, after holding a bench trial, resolved that ambiguity in favor of plaintiff and awarded damages in the amount plaintiff would have recovered on the loans had the agreement not been breached plus interest and attorneys’ fees. The Court explained: Read More

In a Decision and Order dated February 9, 2022, in Parkmerced Invs. v. WeWork Cos. LLC, Index No. 652094/2020, Justice Andrea Masley granted defendant WeWork’s motion to dismiss. Plaintiff alleged breach of contract, breach of the covenant and good faith and fair dealing, and promissory estoppel arising out a redevelopment in San Francisco with respect to which plaintiff and WeWork had signed a non-binding term sheet containing the material terms of WeWork’s investment in the project, including an exclusivity clause and a $20 million exclusivity fee. Ultimately, WeWork did not participate in the redevelopment project. In granting dismissal, Justice Masley read the exclusivity fee as a liquidated damages provision. Read More

On November 17, 2021, in East Ramapo Cent. Sch. Dist. v New York Schs. Ins. Reciprocal, 2021 NY Slip Op 0634, the Second Department reversed the decision of Justice Stephen A. Bucaria that dismissed a claim arising from an insurer’s bad-faith denial of coverage and reduced by 65% damages relating to a breach of the duty to defend. The Court explained that in the context of insurance liability litigation, at the pretrial stage courts are reluctant to dismiss complaints alleging bad faith and damages for breach of the duty to defend, unlike in a fee shifting case, are presumed reasonable: Read More

On June 24, 2021, the First Department issued a decision in Besen v. Farhadian, 2021 NY Slip Op. 040… Read More

On May 25, 2021, Justice Borrok of the New York County Commercial Division issued a decision in Prad… Read More

On April 29, 2021, the First Department issued a decision in AmBase Corp. v. 111 W. 57th Sponsor LLC… Read More

On April 1, 2021, Justice Cohen of the New York County Commercial Division issued a decision in JDS … Read More

On March 30, 2021, the First Department issued a decision in Advanced Aerofoil Tech. AG v. MissionPo… Read More

On March 30, 2021, Justice Platkin of the Albany County Commercial Division issued a decision in Kea… Read More

On February 8, 2021, Justice Sherwood of the New York County Commercial Division issued a decision i… Read More

On December 22, 2020, the Court of Appeals issued a decision in Matter of Part 60 Put-Back Litig., 2… Read More

On December 2, 2020, Justice Cohen of the New York County Commercial Division issued a decision in F… Read More