Omansky v. Gurland

4 A.D.3d 104, 771 N.Y.S.2d 501, 2004 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 962
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedFebruary 3, 2004
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 4 A.D.3d 104 (Omansky v. Gurland) 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
Omansky v. Gurland, 4 A.D.3d 104, 771 N.Y.S.2d 501, 2004 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 962 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Harold Tompkins, J.), entered June 26, 2002, which, to the extent appealed from as limited by the briefs, granted the cross motions of defendants-respondents Robert Gurland, Mark Winkelman and 64 No More, LLC to dismiss the complaint on the grounds of lack of jurisdiction and collateral estoppel, imposed sanctions against plaintiff-appellant Lawrence Omansky in the amount of $10,000 and enjoined him or any of his affiliates from commencing any further actions or filing additional motions without judicial permission, unanimously reversed, on the law, the facts and in the exercise of discretion, without costs, the cross motions denied, the complaint reinstated and the matter remanded to Supreme Court for a traverse hearing. Appeal from order, same court and [105]*105Justice, entered November 29, 2002, which denied plaintiffs-appellants’ motion for reargument, recusal of Justice Tompkins and for a traverse hearing, unanimously dismissed, without costs, as academic.

This appeal is the latest arising out of a series of related actions commenced by plaintiff Lawrence A. Omansky (Omansky) concerning the sale of a commercial condominium unit owned by plaintiff 64 N. Moore Associates (64 Assoc.), a partnership of which Omansky is a partner. Defendants Robert Gurland, Mark Winkelman and Dru Whitacre are also partners of 64 Assoc., which, in addition to owning the commercial unit, also owns the remainder of the condominium building known as The Spice Building Condominium, also a defendant in this case. Defendants Gurland, Winkelman and Whitacre own residential condominiums in The Spice Building Condominium and reside there.

The instant dispute arose in October 1996 after 64 Assoc, received an offer from a third party, Hamilton, to buy the commercial unit for $380,000. In April 1997, Winkelman, as managing partner of 64 Assoc., advised the other partners that a meeting would be held on April 24, 1997 to discuss the Hamilton offer and the procedure for exercising the various rights of first refusal of the partners, the condominium and the individual condominium unit owners pursuant to the partnership agreement and condominium bylaws.

At the April 24th meeting, Whitacre formally tendered a written offer to purchase the commercial unit on behalf of a corporation affiliated with him. The Whitacre offer was for $5,000 more than the Hamilton offer, but since the corporation was an outsider to the partnership and condominium, its offer was subject to the first-refusal rights of the partners, the condominium and the individual unit owners, respectively. Thereafter, counsel to the partnership advised each partner by certified mail of the Whitacre offer, and of their right as partners of 64 Assoc, to exercise their right of first refusal within 10 days of receiving said notice. None of the partners exercised such right. Almost two months later, Gurland wrote to all condominium owners notifying them that none of the partners had exercised their first-refusal rights, that The Spice Building Condominium had 15 days to exercise its right, and if the condominium did not so act, then the individual unit owners would have 10 days thereafter to exercise their rights. After the board of The Spice Building Condominium declined to exercise its right, Gurland and Winkelman separately exercised their rights to purchase the commercial unit on or before July 25, 1997.

[106]*106Based, on the actions of Winkelman and Gurland, Whitacre and Omansky commenced separate actions, which were eventually consolidated. Whitacre sought specific performance of his corporation’s written offer to purchase the commercial unit and Omansky sought, inter alia, damages for breach of fiduciary duty. However, in June 1998, Whitacre settled his action against Gurland and Winkelman (Whitacre settlement) in exchange for the return of his corporation’s $100,000 down payment and an agreement whereby the partnership would sell the commercial unit to 64 No More, LLC (64 LLC), an entity controlled by Gurland and Winkelman.

Also in June 1998, the motion court ruled on various motions addressed to the Omansky complaint. Insofar as relevant, it found that two causes of action were abated by the Whitacre settlement, but that two others should not be dismissed due to the existence of factual disputes. It also dismissed Omansky’s purported third-party complaint alleging causes of action against Lapidus & Smith, counsel for the partnership and condominium, as an improper attempt to amend the complaint. This Court affirmed this order on February 29, 2000 (Omansky v 64 N. Moore Assoc., 269 AD2d 336 [2000]).1

On December 1,1998, while his appeal of the above-mentioned June 1998 order was pending, Omansky commenced a separate action against Lapidus & Smith, making the same allegations as were made in the dismissed third-party action. On June 11, 1999, the motion court dismissed this complaint, finding that it was barred by the doctrines of res judicata and collateral estoppel, and imposed sanctions against Omansky in the amount of $2,500.

On June 15, 2000, this Court modified the June 11, 1999 order by reinstating Omansky’s third cause of action and vacating the sanctions (Omansky v Lapidus & Smith, 273 AD2d 110 [2000]). We found that the complaint should not have been dismissed on res judicata or collateral estoppel grounds because the earlier dismissal of the related third-party action was not on the merits, and that the sanctions should be vacated due to this erroneous ruling. We further held that Omansky’s cause of action brought in his individual capacity was sufficient to survive the defendant’s pre-answer motion to dismiss.2

Meanwhile, Omansky, citing the delay in closing the sale of the commercial unit from 64 Assoc, to 64 LLC pursuant to the Whitacre settlement, as well as the inadequacy of use and oc[107]*107cupancy collected by the partnership, commenced the instant action on February 8, 1999 by order to show cause (OTSC) against Winkelman, Gurland, Whitacre and 64 LLC alleging breach of fiduciary duty and breach of the stipulation and seeking legal fees. Omansky sought injunctive relief against the sale of the commercial unit to 64 LLC. The motion court signed the OTSC but denied any injunctive relief.

According to Omansky, his attorney effected personal service of the summons and complaint upon the defendants on February 9, 1999 and filed an affirmation of service to that effect. Notably, however, the captions of the OTSC and the summons and complaint were not identical, and neither The Spice Building Condominium nor 64 LLC were named as defendants on the summons and complaint. Also according to Omansky, counsel for defendants requested an extension of time to answer the complaint and Omansky’s attorney, over his objection, granted such request. During this period, Omansky claims that the sale of the commercial unit to Gurland and Winkelman was completed.

On March 24, 1999, defendants moved to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, alleging numerous deficiencies in service. On May 27, 1999, approximately one month prior to the court’s decision, Omansky had each of the defendants personally reserved with the original OTSC and summons and complaint and also filed another OTSC to set aside the sale and to hold defendants’ attorney in contempt. There are affirmations of service in the record on appeal which reflect such re-service.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
4 A.D.3d 104, 771 N.Y.S.2d 501, 2004 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 962, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/omansky-v-gurland-nyappdiv-2004.