Hamlet at Willow Creek Development Co. v. Northeast Land Development Corp.

99 A.D.3d 661, 952 N.Y.2d 562

This text of 99 A.D.3d 661 (Hamlet at Willow Creek Development Co. v. Northeast Land Development Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hamlet at Willow Creek Development Co. v. Northeast Land Development Corp., 99 A.D.3d 661, 952 N.Y.2d 562 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

[663]*663Ordered that the appeals by the defendants Northeast Land and Development Corporation, Pav-Co Asphalt, Inc., and William Fehr from the money judgment entered May 16, 2011, are dismissed, without costs or disbursements, as abandoned and, in addition, because those defendants are not aggrieved thereby (see CPLR 5511); and it is further,

Ordered that the appeal by the defendant William Fehr from the money judgment entered January 5, 2012, is dismissed, without costs or disbursements, except insofar as it brings up for review the portion of the order dated March 9, 2011, denying his cross motion, made together with the defendant Pav-Co Asphalt, Inc., inter alia, pursuant to CPLR 5015 (a) (2) to vacate the amended money judgment dated October 20, 2009, and pursuant to CPLR 3211 (a) to dismiss the complaint insofar as asserted against them, as the defendant William Fehr is not otherwise aggrieved by the money judgment entered January 5, 2012 (see CPLR 5511); and it is further,

Ordered that the money judgment entered May 16, 2011, is affirmed insofar as appealed from by the defendant Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland, without costs or disbursements; and it is further,

Ordered that the money judgment entered January 5, 2012, is reversed insofar as appealed from by the defendants Northeast Land Development Corporation and Pav-Co Asphalt, Inc., and insofar as reviewed on the appeal by the defendant William Fehr, on the law, without costs or disbursements, those branches of the plaintiffs’ motion which were for summary judgment on the cause of action against the defendants Northeast Land Development Corporation and Pav-Co Asphalt, Inc., jointly and severally, to recover damages for the conversion of 373,008 cubic yards of fill material and for reimbursement of the costs of hauling 56,490 cubic yards of purported replacement fill material is denied, that branch of the motion of the defendants Pav-Co Asphalt, Inc., and William Fehr which was pursuant to CPLR 3211 (a) to dismiss the claim to recover damages for the reimbursement of the costs of hauling 56,490 cubic yards of purported replacement fill material insofar as asserted against them is granted, the order is modified accordingly, and the claim to recover damages for the reimbursement of the costs of hauling 56,490 cubic yards of purported replacement fill material is dismissed insofar as asserted against the defendants Pav-Co Asphalt, Inc., and William Fehr.

[664]*664The appeals from the intermediate order must be dismissed because the right of direct appeal therefrom terminated with the entry of the money judgments in the action (see Matter of Aho, 39 NY2d 241, 248 [1976]) and, in addition, the defendant William Fehr is not aggrieved by those portions of the order granting those branches of the plaintiffs’ motion which were for summary judgment on the cause of action to recover damages for conversion and reimbursement costs of hauling insofar as asserted against the defendants Northeast Land Development Corporation and Pav-Co Asphalt, Inc. (see CPLR 5511). All of the issues raised on the appeals from the order by the defendants Northeast Land Development Corporation and Pav-Co Asphalt, Inc., and the issue raised on the appeal from the order by the defendant William Fehr in connection with his cross motion, made together with the defendant Pav-Co Asphalt, Inc., are brought up for review and have been considered on the appeals from the money judgment entered January 5, 2012, and the issues raised on the appeal from the order by the defendant Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland are brought up for review and have been considered on the appeal from the money judgment entered May 16, 2011 (see CPLR 5501 [a] [1]).

The underlying facts of this matter are detailed in our opinion rendered in a prior appeal (see Hamlet at Willow Cr. Dev. Co., LLC v Northeast Land Dev. Corp., 64 AD3d 85 [2009]). The plaintiffs Hamlet at Willow Creek Development Co., LLC, and Mt. Sinai Associates, LLC, are the owners and developers of the Hamlet at Willow Creek Development, a 186-acre residential development and golf course project in the Town of Brookhaven. The defendant Northeast Land Development Corporation (hereinafter Northeast) was hired to excavate the subject property and, pursuant to a written agreement, was required to remove no more than 1.65 million cubic yards of fill material. The defendant Pav-Co Asphalt, Inc. (hereinafter Pav-Co), was hired by Northeast as its excavation subcontractor. The defendant Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland (hereinafter Fidelity) issued a performance bond guaranteeing performance of the excavation work in accordance with the approved site plan, naming Northeast and Pav-Co as principals under the bond, and the Town as obligee. In our prior opinion, we held that Northeast and Pav-Co were liable to the plaintiffs for the amount of fill material, if any, that they over-excavated from the subject property (id. at 112-116). Following further discovery on this issue for the purpose of calculating damages only, the plaintiffs moved, inter alia, for summary judgment on the claim against Northeast and Pav-Co, jointly and severally, to recover damages for the conversion of 373,008 cubic yards of fill mate[665]*665rial, claiming that the project was over-excavated by that amount. The Supreme Court, among other things, granted that branch of the plaintiffs’ motion.

Contrary to the Supreme Court’s determination, the plaintiffs failed to meet their prima facie burden of demonstrating that the project was over-excavated by 373,008 cubic yards of fill material. Under the circumstances of this case, the plaintiffs, as the proponents of summary judgment, bore the burden of demonstrating, in the first instance, that the project was over-excavated by 373,008 cubic yards of fill material by tendering evidence of the topography of subject property in 2002, when the subject excavation work was both commenced and completed by Northeast and Pav-Co (see Zuckerman v City of New York, 49 NY2d 557 [1980]). However, the plaintiffs failed to meet this burden. Accordingly, the Supreme Court should have denied that branch of the plaintiffs’ motion which was for summary judgment on the claim to recover damages for the conversion of 373,008 cubic yards of fill material insofar as asserted against Northeast and Pav-Co.

That branch of the plaintiffs’ motion which was for summary judgment against Northeast and Pav-Co, jointly and severally, on the claim for reimbursement of the costs of hauling 56,490 cubic yards of purported replacement fill that was brought to the subject property following the subject excavation work (hereinafter the replacement-fill claim), should have been denied as well, since the plaintiffs failed to establish their prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law in connection with that claim. As to Pav-Co and its officer, the defendant William Fehr, even with the most liberal interpretation (cf. 115 Austin Ave, LLC v City of Yonkers, 37 AD3d 684 [2007]), the complaint fails to allege facts against Pav-Co and Fehr sufficient to place them on notice that the plaintiffs were asserting the replacement-fill claim against them. Accordingly, the Supreme Court also should have granted that branch of Pav-Co and Fehr’s cross motion which was pursuant to CPLR 3211 (a) to dismiss that claim insofar as asserted against them.

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Related

Federal Deposit Insurance v. Schwartz
431 N.E.2d 621 (New York Court of Appeals, 1981)
In re Aho
347 N.E.2d 647 (New York Court of Appeals, 1976)
Zuckerman v. City of New York
404 N.E.2d 718 (New York Court of Appeals, 1980)
115 Austin Ave, LLC v. City of Yonkers
37 A.D.3d 684 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2007)
Sieger v. Sieger
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Hamlet at Willow Creek Development Co. v. Northeast Land Development Corp.
64 A.D.3d 85 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2009)
Mullan v. Randall
100 A.D.2d 737 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1984)

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Bluebook (online)
99 A.D.3d 661, 952 N.Y.2d 562, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hamlet-at-willow-creek-development-co-v-northeast-land-development-corp-nyappdiv-2012.