In re the Arbitration between Grasso & Grasso

84 A.D.3d 1491, 923 N.Y.S.2d 245
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedMay 5, 2011
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 84 A.D.3d 1491 (In re the Arbitration between Grasso & Grasso) 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
In re the Arbitration between Grasso & Grasso, 84 A.D.3d 1491, 923 N.Y.S.2d 245 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

McCarthy, J.

Appeals (1) from an order of the Supreme Court (Ferradino, J.), entered March 4, 2010 in Schenectady County, which, in a proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 75, among other things, granted petitioners’ motion to hold respondent in contempt, (2) from the judgment entered thereon, and (3) from an order of said court, entered September 27, 2010 in Schenectady County, which denied respondent’s motion for reconsideration.

Joseph F. Grasso (hereinafter decedent) commenced an action against his brother, petitioner Nicholas J. Grasso (hereinafter petitioner), and another individual, mainly seeking title to or the value of family-owned real property. The parties agreed to submit the issues to arbitration. In an August 2008 decision and an October 2008 modified decision, the arbitrator found, among other things, that petitioner was entitled to half of the proceeds received by decedent from the sale of a Florida motel property, reduced by certain payments that decedent made with respect to the property. The arbitrator also held that decedent was entitled to an accounting from and half the stock of petitioner Trans-American Management Corporation, and that petitioner was required to obtain that accounting and stock transfer. If petitioner did not do so, the arbitrator directed that an arbitration hearing be held to determine the corporation’s value and that a judgment be issued to decedent against petitioner for half of that value, after offsetting certain other awards. Among those other awards was petitioner’s share of the value of the Florida motel property.

Petitioners commenced this CPLR article 75 proceeding seeking to partially vacate the arbitrator’s award. Decedent cross-petitioned to confirm the entire award. Decedent died and, upon a stipulation, Joseph F. Grasso Jr. (hereinafter Grasso Jr.) was substituted as a party — as representative of decedent’s estate and in his individual capacity as holder of an assignment of decedent’s assets — in both this proceeding and the underlying plenary action. In March 2009, Supreme Court granted petitioners’ application, vacating the portions of the arbitration award that directly or indirectly required issuance of stock or an accounting from Trans-American, but confirming the remainder of the award. Grasso Jr. appealed that decision to this Court.

While that appeal was pending, petitioner moved in Supreme Court to hold Grasso Jr. in contempt for failing to comply with the court’s order that he appear for a deposition and produce all documents relating to the sale of the Florida motel property, to effectuate the arbitrator’s decision. The court granted the mo[1493]*1493tion and precluded Grasso Jr. from producing any evidence of offsets with respect to the amount owed to petitioner from the proceeds of the sale of the Florida motel property. The court granted petitioner a judgment against Grasso Jr., individually and as administrator of decedent’s estate, in the amount of $1,054,647.06. Grasso Jr. moved to reargue.

Shortly thereafter, this Court modified Supreme Court’s March 2009 order by reversing so much thereof as vacated the portion of the arbitrator’s modified award that directed an arbitration hearing to determine the net value of Trans-American, to be followed by a judgment against petitioner for half the value determined at the hearing (Matter of Grasso [Grasso], 72 AD3d 1463 [2010], lv denied 15 NY3d 705 [2010]). Grasso Jr. converted his motion to one to renew and reargue, based partly upon this Court’s decision. Due to an acknowledged mathematical error, the parties stipulated to entry of an amended judgment in the amount of $907,391.91, with Grasso Jr. reserving his right to contest the judgment. Supreme Court denied the motion for reconsideration. Grasso Jr. appealed from the order holding him in contempt, the judgment entered thereon,

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Related

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2024 NY Slip Op 04427 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2024)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
84 A.D.3d 1491, 923 N.Y.S.2d 245, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-arbitration-between-grasso-grasso-nyappdiv-2011.