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THE ORAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN PLAINTIFF AND HER MOTHER REQUIRING MOTHER TO TRANSFER FUNDS TO THE PLAINTIFF COULD HAVE BEEN COMPLETED WITHIN A YEAR AND THEREFORE DID NOT VIOLATE THE STATUTE OF FRAUDS; THE RELATED BREACH OF CONTRACT AND TORTIOUS INTERFERENCE WITH CONTRACT CAUSES OF ACTION SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN DISMISSED (SECOND DEPT). ​

The Second Department, reversing (modifying) Supreme Court, determined that an oral agreement to distribute funds to the plaintiff did not violate the statute of frauds because the agreement could have been fulfilled within a year. The related breach of contract and tortious interference with contract causes of action should not have been dismissed:

… [T]he statute of frauds concerns those agreements which, by their terms, “have absolutely no possibility in fact and law of full performance within one year” (… see General Obligations Law § 5-701[a][1] …). Here, although the portion of the alleged oral agreement that required the mother to make payments to the plaintiff in amounts equal to those payments the mother made to the plaintiff’s siblings was capable of an indefinite continuance, it could have been fully performed within a year of its making … . * * *

… [T]he complaint sufficiently sets forth a cause of action sounding in tortious interference with contract, alleging that the plaintiff sustained damages when Janice intentionally and improperly interfered with the portion of the alleged oral agreement requiring the mother to pay the plaintiff an amount equal to any amounts the mother paid to the plaintiff’s siblings, and aided the mother in her breach of that portion of the agreement … . Pare v Aalbue, 2023 NY Slip Op 06377, Second Dept 12-13-23

Practice Point: Even though a contract need not have been fulfilled within a year, it does not violate the statute of frauds if it could be fulfilled within a year.

 

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