Skylon Corp. v. Guilford Mills, Inc.

901 F. Supp. 711, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15205, 1995 WL 608350
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedOctober 16, 1995
DocketNo. 93 Civ. 5581 (LAP)
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 901 F. Supp. 711 (Skylon Corp. v. Guilford Mills, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Skylon Corp. v. Guilford Mills, Inc., 901 F. Supp. 711, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15205, 1995 WL 608350 (S.D.N.Y. 1995).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

PRESKA, District Judge:

By an Opinion and Order dated September 29,19941 (the “Opinion and Order”), I granted defendants’ motion for summary judgment with respect to Guilford Mills, Inc. (“Guilford”) and denied the motion with respect to Guilford’s former president, George Greenberg (“Greenberg”). I determined there was a factual question as to whether the general release of Guilford executed by Skylon Corporation (“Skylon”) also extended to Greenberg. Defendants have moved for reargument concerning the denial of summary judgment with respect to Greenberg and, in the alternative, for certification for interlocutory appeal. For the following reasons, defendants’ motion for reargument is denied and defendants’ motion for certification is granted.

BACKGROUND

The factual background of this action is fully set forth in the Opinion and Order and, in general, will not be repeated.

In the Opinion and Order, I determined that there was an issue as to whether defendant Greenberg was covered by the September 1990 release. The release, by its express terms, covers Skylon, Guilford, Chuck Hayes (Guilford’s CEO), Irving Schuyler (Skylon’s Chairman) and Harvey Schuyler (Skylon’s President). Although Greenberg is not mentioned, he nevertheless contended that he is included in the release which, he says, was intended to be plenary. Skylon, on the other hand, maintained that only those individuals to whom the release expressly refers were intended to be protected. I determined that defendants’ arguments were not persuasive enough to overcome the facts that (i) the release names specific individuals and (ii) Greenberg is not among them.2 In view of these circumstances, which raised the substantial possibility that Greenberg’s omission from the release was not merely an oversight, I could not — and cannot — hold as a matter of law that the parties intended Greenberg to be released.

Defendants also argued that the issue of intent was not material because, they contended, Skylon’s release of Guilford operated to release all of Guilford’s agents, including Greenberg, Guilford’s president. Defendants relied upon International Halliwell Mines, Ltd. v. Continental Copper & Steel Industries, Inc., 544 F.2d 105, 109 (2d Cir.1979) (“International Halliwell ”), wherein the Court of Appeals stated that “New York law is well settled that the release of one wrong[713]*713doer releases all those who acted as its agents, absent an express reservation to the contrary.” The Court went on, however, to state that the rationale underlying this rule was “the prevention of double recovery where the alleged wrongful acts of several individuals cause a single injury.” Id. The fear was that an injured party would settle his or her claims with the principal and then sue the agent, enabling the injured to reap a total recovery in excess of the amount of his or her damages. See Gavin v. Malherbe, 146 Misc. 51, 261 N.Y.S. 373, 375-76 (N.Y.Sup.Ct.1932), aff'd, 240 A.D. 779, 266 N.Y.S. 897 (2d Dep’t 1933), aff'd, 264 N.Y. 403, 191 N.E. 486 (N.Y.Ct. of App.1934). However, as reflected in § 15-108 of its General Obligations law, New York no longer prevents double recoveries by construing releases to extend beyond their stated scope. See N.Y.Gen. Oblig.Law § 15-108 (McKinney 1989) (“GOL § 15-108”). Releases are interpreted to cover only those stated to be covered, and double recoveries are avoided by reducing an injured party’s claims against non-released liable parties by the amount received in settlement from released hable parties. E.g., Tufail v. Hionas, 156 A.D.2d 670, 549 N.Y.S.2d 436 (2d Dep’t 1989) (applying GOL § 15-108 and holding that release given to automobile owner did not release driver from liability for injuries sustained by passenger). Taking the above into account, I held that Skylon’s release of Guilford does not extend to Greenberg as a matter of law and that the factual issue concerning the parties’ intent with respect to Greenberg’s status under the release is material thereby preventing summary judgment for Greenberg.

DISCUSSION

I. Motion for Reargument

After having read the parties’ papers on the motion for reargument and conducted oral argument, I see no reason to change my earlier ruling. As I previously stated, under New York law, a release, like any other contractual provision, must be construed in accordance with the intent of the parties who executed it. Stone v. National Bank and Trust Co., 188 A.D.2d 865, 591 N.Y.S.2d 609, 611 (3d Dep’t 1992). See also Wells v. Shearson Lehman/Am. Express, 72 N.Y.2d 11, 530 N.Y.S.2d 517, 521, 526 N.E.2d 8 (N.Y.Ct. of App.1988) (stating that courts generally “must look to the language of a release — the words used by the parties — to determine their intent, resorting to extrinsic evidence only when the court concludes as a matter of law that the contract is ambiguous”).

As I stated in the Opinion and Order, none of defendants’ arguments is persuasive enough to overcome the facts that the release names specific individuals who were officers of the corporate parties, but Greenberg, former president of Guilford, is not among them. Defendants’ main contention on reargument is that the absence of Greenberg from the release is not material because the release of a principal also releases the agent;3 as explained infra, I do not believe that is the law of New York. In addition, even assuming that to be the law of New York, the following question arises: if it was unnecessary to include Greenberg, an agent of Guilford, why did the parties see fit to name, expressly, Chuck Hayes (Guilford’s CEO), Irving Schuyler (Skylon’s Chairman) and Harvey Schuyler (Skylon’s President)? Skylon caused the two Schuylers to be included, and Guilford, on one hand caused Hayes to be included, but, on the other hand, did not cause Greenberg to be included. Obviously, the parties did not simply include various specified corporations and individuals unrelated to those corporations in the release; rather, the parties released specific “agents” of the released “principals”. If the parties had believed that the release applied to agents simply as a matter of law, they likely would not have named any agents in the release. In light of these circumstances, which, as I held previously, raise the possibility that Greenberg’s omission was not merely an oversight, I once again find that summary judgment is inappropriate because questions of fact remain about the parties’ intent.

[714]*714Defendants, relying on International Hal-liwell, contend that Greenberg is covered by the release as a matter of law and that although GOL § 15-108 applies to “joint tort-feasors”, it does not apply to “principal” and “agent.” They argue that the Court of Appeals was aware of the change in GOL § 15-108, which occurred prior to the decision in International Halliwell, as indicated by its decision in Herzfeld v. Laventhol, Krekstein, Horwath & Horwath, 540 F.2d 27, 39 (2d Cir.1976) (decided July 15, 1976). Herzfeld indicates that the Court of Appeals was aware that GOL § 15-108 changed the law with respect to joint tort-feasors; however, Herzfeld

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901 F. Supp. 711, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15205, 1995 WL 608350, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/skylon-corp-v-guilford-mills-inc-nysd-1995.