UNEXECUTED CONTRACT THAT COULD NOT BE COMPLETED WITHIN A LIFETIME NOT ENFORCEABLE, ATTORNEY WHO REPRESENTED THE DEFENDANT LLC SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISQUALIFIED IN THIS ACTION BROUGHT ON BEHALF OF A DECEASED MEMBER (SECOND DEPT).
The Second Department, modifying Supreme Court, determined plaintiff’s breach of contract action based upon an unexecuted contract which could not be completed within a lifetime was properly granted. Plaintiff’s decedent was a member of a limited liability company (Ocean Rich) which had taken out a life insurance policy for plaintiff’s decedent, payable to Ocean State. The agreement which was never signed would have required that the proceeds of the policy be used to buy out plaintiff’s decedent’s share of the LLC. The Second Department further determined counsel for the defendant LLC should be disqualified because he had represented the LLC before plaintiff’s decedent’s death:
… [T]he defendants demonstrated their prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law dismissing the causes of action to recover damages for breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and tortious interference with contract, by submitting evidence that the agreement was never executed by the members of Ocean Rich, and therefore does not satisfy the statute of frauds. … Since the alleged promise upon which the plaintiff relied—that Ocean Rich would purchase the decedent’s interest in it from his estate with the proceeds of the subject insurance policy—could not, by its terms, “be completed before the end of a lifetime,” the Supreme Court properly granted [defendants’ motion for summary judgment]. …
… [T]he plaintiff alleged in an affidavit that the defendants’ counsel was involved in the formation of Ocean Rich, and the defendants’ counsel admitted that he had represented Ocean Rich in “various past matters.” Counsel’s prior representation of Ocean Rich “was in fact represent[ation of] its [three] shareholders,” whose competing interests are at issue in this action … . Likewise, counsel’s involvement in the formation of Ocean Rich and his representation of it against third parties was “substantially related” to the present action… . Since the defendants’ counsel was “in a position to receive relevant confidences” from the decedent, whose estate’s interests “are now adverse to the defendant[s’] interests,” the Supreme Court should have granted that branch of the plaintiff’s cross motion which was to disqualify the defendants’ counsel … . Deerin v Ocean Rich Foods, LLC, 2018 NY Slip Op 00820, Second Dept 2-7-18
CONTRACT LAW (UNEXECUTED CONTRACT THAT COULD NOT BE COMPLETED WITHIN A LIFETIME NOT ENFORCEABLE, ATTORNEY WHO REPRESENTED THE DEFENDANT LLC SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISQUALIFIED IN THIS ACTION BROUGHT ON BEHALF OF A DECEASED MEMBER (SECOND DEPT))/STATUTE OF FRAUDS (UNEXECUTED CONTRACT THAT COULD NOT BE COMPLETED WITHIN A LIFETIME NOT ENFORCEABLE, ATTORNEY WHO REPRESENTED THE DEFENDANT LLC SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISQUALIFIED IN THIS ACTION BROUGHT ON BEHALF OF A DECEASED MEMBER (SECOND DEPT))/GENERAL OBLIGATIONS LAW (STATUTE OF FRAUDS, UNEXECUTED CONTRACT THAT COULD NOT BE COMPLETED WITHIN A LIFETIME NOT ENFORCEABLE, ATTORNEY WHO REPRESENTED THE DEFENDANT LLC SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISQUALIFIED IN THIS ACTION BROUGHT ON BEHALF OF A DECEASED MEMBER (SECOND DEPT))/CORPORATION LAW (ATTORNEYS, CONFLICT OF INTEREST, UNEXECUTED CONTRACT THAT COULD NOT BE COMPLETED WITHIN A LIFETIME NOT ENFORCEABLE, ATTORNEY WHO REPRESENTED THE DEFENDANT LLC SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISQUALIFIED IN THIS ACTION BROUGHT ON BEHALF OF A DECEASED MEMBER (SECOND DEPT))/LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY LAW (ATTORNEYS, CONFLICT OF INTEREST, UNEXECUTED CONTRACT THAT COULD NOT BE COMPLETED WITHIN A LIFETIME NOT ENFORCEABLE, ATTORNEY WHO REPRESENTED THE DEFENDANT LLC SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISQUALIFIED IN THIS ACTION BROUGHT ON BEHALF OF A DECEASED MEMBER (SECOND DEPT))/ATTORNEYS (CONFLICT OF INTEREST, UNEXECUTED CONTRACT THAT COULD NOT BE COMPLETED WITHIN A LIFETIME NOT ENFORCEABLE, ATTORNEY WHO REPRESENTED THE DEFENDANT LLC SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISQUALIFIED IN THIS ACTION BROUGHT ON BEHALF OF A DECEASED MEMBER (SECOND DEPT))/CONFLICT OF INTEREST (ATTORNEYS, LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY LAW, (UNEXECUTED CONTRACT THAT COULD NOT BE COMPLETED WITHIN A LIFETIME NOT ENFORCEABLE, ATTORNEY WHO REPRESENTED THE DEFENDANT LLC SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISQUALIFIED IN THIS ACTION BROUGHT ON BEHALF OF A DECEASED MEMBER (SECOND DEPT))