Practice point: Plaintiff alleged that, in plaintiff's divorce action, defendant submitted to the court a document with a page intentionally switched to conceal the
unreliability of certain projections relating to a start-up company, founded by
plaintiff, in which he and his former wife held a minority interest. This single
alleged act of deceit was not sufficiently egregious to support a claim under
Judiciary Law § 487(1).
Student note: In addition, plaintiff failed to allege damages resulting from
the switching of the page. He claims that he had to settle with his former wife
to avoid expensive and potentially protracted litigation as to the value of the
allegedly worthless stock. However, the complaint alleges that the dispute over
the value of the stock arose when defendants retained a second appraiser, who
was given a correct copy of the document and attributed substantial value to
the stock. Therefore, plaintiff did not allege that the settlement he entered
into with his former wife was the proximate result of defendant's alleged
deceit.
Case: Strumwasser v. Zeiderman, NY
Slip Op 00556 (1st Dept. 2013).
Here is the decision.
Tomorrow's issue: Workers' Compensation Law.
