PNY III, LLC v. Axis Design Group International, LLC

2017 NY Slip Op 1993, 148 A.D.3d 550, 50 N.Y.S.3d 58

• Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
• Decided: March 21, 2017
• Docket: 159743/14 3446 151873/15 3445
• Status: Published

Opinion

Appeals from orders, Supreme Court, New York County (Paul Wooten, J.), entered November 16, 2015, which granted the motions of defendants Axis Design Group International LLC (Axis) and Joseph V. Lieber, P.E., pursuant to CPLR 3211 (a) (1) and (7), dismissing plaintiff PNY III, LLC f/k/a PNY III, LP and American Guarantee and Liability Insurance Company a/s/o PNY III, LLC f/k/a PNY III, LP,’s (PNY) complaint as against them, and dismissing plaintiff United Church Insurance Association a/s/o Church of the Covenant Presbyterian’s (United Church) complaint as against them, unanimously dismissed, without costs, as moot.

In each of these appeals, ULM, which appeals the respective dismissals of plaintiffs PNY’s and United Church’s direct claims as against Axis and Lieber, is not an aggrieved party (see Rodriguez v Heritage Hills Socy., Ltd,, 141 AD3d 482, 483 [1st Dept 2016], citing Hecht v City of New York, 60 NY2d 57 [1983]; see also Rojas v Paine, 125 AD3d 742 [2d Dept 2015]). Moreover, PNY settled its action with Axis and Lieber, releasing those defendants and executing a stipulation of discontinuance with prejudice, and the Church has discontinued, with prejudice, its action against Axis and Leiber. Thus, even if ULM were an aggrieved party, these appeals must nevertheless be dismissed as moot (see Matter of Anonymous v New York City Health & Hosps. Corp., 70 NY2d 972, 974 [1988]).

We have considered ULM’s remaining contentions and find them unavailing.

Concur — Acosta, J.P., Renwick, Manzanet-Daniels, Webber and Gesmer, JJ.

[Prior Case History: 2015 NY Slip Op 32164(U).]