Two years after commencing a personal injury accident, plaintiff settled. After counter executing the settlement documents, plaintiff’s counsel returned them to defendant’s counsel with a blank form W-9 for the payee’s information. The W-9 was never returned. When the settlement payment was not paid in 21 days, under CPLR 5003-a,…
A client sued its law firm for malpractice. The law firm commenced an arbitration addressed to its unpaid fees, as required by the parties’ retainer agreement. The client sought to stay the arbitration pending the outcome of the lawsuit while the law firm attempted to stay the lawsuit pending the…
Plaintiff borrowed more than a million dollars from defendant, in addition to using his funds, to form an LLC with which to buy a property. The LLC was in defendant’s name, however, pending plaintiff’s ability to obtain credit to hold the property on his own. When the time came for…
Plaintiff and a China-based manufacturer and its Georgia-based subsidiary executed an NDA to develop a specialty LED light bulb. The parties ended up going their own way with each developing their own LED bulb. Plaintiff thereafter alleged that the Chinese company and its subsidiary had breached the NDA and, pursuant…
In a recent case, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit dismissed an appeal based on the parties’ waiver of any right to an appeal. A doctor that at one point was associated with Beckley Oncology Associates (“BOA”) filed an arbitration against BOA claiming that he was…
An LLC member promised to accept “any terms” for the sale of the parties’ entity if another member would pay certain of his personal debts. That member would later renege and agree to a different deal from a second buyer. When that member also refused the terms of the LLC…
Defendant owned a property that was long alleged to house individuals selling counterfeit goods. Watchmaker Omega bought two counterfeit watches from a retailer at the same location and commenced a lawsuit against the property owner for contributory trademark infringement. Surviving a motion to dismiss by the property owner, the case…
Plaintiff entered into a contract to buy a mixed-use building for slightly more than $2 million. Plaintiff’s downpayment was $200,000. The transaction was to be all cash, as-is, and to close six months after the date of the contract. Before that closing date, plaintiff asked permission to show the property…
Nastasi & Associates, Inc., was a subcontractor for Turner Construction Corp. Payment to Nastasi was conditioned on Turner being paid by the owner. Turner had the right to terminate the parties’ agreement by written notice, with any payments due to Nastasi, again, conditioned on Turner being paid. The agreement also…
Although not a new issue, we discuss it because it comes up from time to time. What obligation does a lender have to verify documents used by a corporate entity to establish that the individual borrowing the money has the corporate authority to do so? In short, very little (assuming…