Crafted Interiors Design & Build LLC v. Quaife

2024 NY Slip Op 31882(U)

• Court: New York Supreme Court, New York County
• Decided: May 31, 2024
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

Crafted Interiors Design & Build LLC v Quaife 2024 NY Slip Op 31882(U) May 31, 2024 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: Index No. 160083/2023 Judge: Louis L. Nock Cases posted with a "30000" identifier, i.e., 2013 NY Slip Op 30001(U), are republished from various New York State and local government sources, including the New York State Unified Court System's eCourts Service. This opinion is uncorrected and not selected for official publication. INDEX NO. 160083/2023 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 24 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 05/31/2024

SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK NEW YORK COUNTY PRESENT: HON. LOUIS L. NOCK PART 38M Justice ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------X INDEX NO. 160083/2023 CRAFTED INTERIORS DESIGN & BUILD LLC, MOTION DATE 01/08/2024 Plaintiff, MOTION SEQ. NO. 001 -v- NANCY QUAIFE and ATLANTIC SPECIALTY INSURANCE DECISION + ORDER ON COMPANY, MOTION Defendants. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------X

The following e-filed documents, listed by NYSCEF document numbers (Motion 001) 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22 were read on this motion to DISMISS COUNTERCLAIMS .

LOUIS L. NOCK, J.

Plaintiff’s motion to dismiss counterclaims is granted in part to the extent that the second

counterclaim is dismissed for all the reasons stated by the plaintiff, and the first counterclaim is

deemed viable for all the reasons stated by the defendants. The following is provided by way of

summary.

Background

Plaintiff contractor alleges that defendant Nancy Quaife failed to pay it for renovation

work performed on her residential cooperative apartment, and asserts causes of action for

foreclosure of mechanic’s lien (in the amount of $29,462.59, and bonded through defendant

Atlantic Specialty Insurance Company), breach of contract, account stated, and several equitable

causes of action. Defendants allege, by way of counterclaims, that plaintiff’s work was violative

of Department of Buildings regulations and, thus, inconsistent with the proprietary lease and

related alteration agreement entered into between Quaife and her Co-Op building (“The

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Normandy”), as well as in breach of Quaife’s contract with plaintiff. The counterclaims include

one for breach of contract by plaintiff (first counterclaim) and interference with the proprietary

lease and related alteration agreement (second counterclaim). Plaintiff moves to dismiss the

counterclaims.

The Second Counterclaim for Interference with Contract is Dismissed

Defendants assert that plaintiff caused Quaife to breach the proprietary lease, rendered

Quaife’s performance of her obligations thereunder impossible and tortiously interfered with the

proprietary lease, and seek recovery of damages from plaintiff allegedly resulting from this

tortious interference with contract (Counterclaims ¶¶ 82-83). This counterclaim fails, as a matter

of law, and should be dismissed.

“Tortious interference with contract requires the existence of a valid contract between the

plaintiff and a third party, defendant’s knowledge of that contract, defendant’s intentional

procurement of the third-party’s breach of the contract without justification, actual breach of the

contract, and damages resulting therefrom” (MUFG Union Bank, N.A. v Axos Bank, 196 AD3d

442, 444-45 [1st Dept 2021] [citation omitted], lv denied 38 NY3d 996 [2022]; accord,

Anesthesia Assocs. of Mount Kisco, LLP v North Westchester Hosp. Ctr., 59 AD3d 473, 476 [2d

Dept 2009]). That is, a cause of action exists only where it is the third party to the contract that

is induced to, and does, breach. Thus, for example, in Iacono v Pilavas (125 AD3d 811, 812 [2d

Dept], lv denied 25 NY3d 909, rearg denied 26 NY3d 947 [2015]), the plaintiff’s claim for

tortious interference with contract was properly dismissed because the “third-party . . . did not

breach the contract; rather, the plaintiff breached the contract.”

Here, the applicable third-party is the Normandy. And here, as in Iacono, Quaife’s

counterclaim is not that plaintiff induced the Normandy to breach, or that the Normandy

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breached the proprietary lease or alteration agreement, but that Quaife herself breached, or was

caused to breach, the proprietary lease or alteration agreement. Quaife does not allege that

plaintiff intentionally induced the Normandy to breach the proprietary lease or alteration

agreement. Accordingly, this counterclaim fails to state a cause of action and is dismissed.1

The First Cause of Action for Breach of Contract is Viable

The first counterclaim for breach of contract more than sufficiently alleges a claim for

breach of contract. In order to plead a cause of action for breach of contract, the pleader must

allege that: (1) a contract exists; (2) pleader performed in accordance with the contract; (3)

defendant breached its contractual obligations; and (4) defendant’s breach resulted in damages

(34-06 73, LLC v Seneca Ins. Co., 39 NY3d 44 [2022]).

There is no dispute that an agreement between plaintiff and Quaife exists. The

counterclaim alleges that plaintiff breached that agreement through improper work; that Quaife

was entitled by that agreement to terminate plaintiff for cause; and that such improper work

caused Quaife to incur costs assessed by the Normandy.

Accordingly, it is

ORDERED that the plaintiff’s motion to dismiss the counterclaims is granted to the

extent of the second counterclaim for interference with contract, and is otherwise denied; and it

is further

ORDERED that a preliminary conference occur June 26, 2024, at 10:00 a.m., at the

Courthouse, 111 Centre Street, Room 1166, New York, New York.

1 Moreover, whatever damages are sought by defendants through their counterclaim for interference with contract – now dismissed – are preserved through their counterclaim for breach of contract – sustained as pled hereinafter – as a consequence of such breach. 160083/2023 CRAFTED INTERIORS DESIGN & BUILD LLC vs. QUAIFE, NANCY ET AL Page 3 of 4 Motion No. 001

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This will constitute the decision and order of the court.

ENTER:

5/31/2024 $SIG$ DATE LOUIS L. NOCK, J.S.C. CHECK ONE: CASE DISPOSED X NON-FINAL DISPOSITION

APPLICATION: GRANTED

SETTLE ORDER DENIED X GRANTED IN PART

SUBMIT ORDER □ OTHER

CHECK IF APPROPRIATE: INCLUDES TRANSFER/REASSIGN FIDUCIARY APPOINTMENT □ REFERENCE

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