Practice point: Under New York law, in order to properly plead a cause of action to recover damages for civil conspiracy, the plaintiff must allege a cognizable tort, coupled with an agreement between the conspirators regarding the tort, and an overt action in furtherance of the agreement. A bare conclusory allegation of conspiracy is usually insufficient.
Student note: New York does not recognize civil
conspiracy to commit a tort as an independent cause of action. However, a plaintiff may plead the existence of a
conspiracy in order to connect the actions of the individual defendants
with an actionable, underlying tort and establish that those actions
were part of a common scheme. The allegation of conspiracy carries no greater burden, but
also no less, than to assert adequately common action for a common
purpose by common agreement or understanding among a group, from which
common responsibility derives.
Case: Blanco v. Polanco, NY Slip Op 02735 (2d Dept. 2014)
Here is the decision.
Monday's issue: An attorney's alleged overzealousness and the Judiciary Law.
