Kramer v Danalis |
2008 NY Slip Op 01836 [49 AD3d 263] |
March 4, 2008 |
Appellate Division, First Department |
Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. |
Ari Kramer, as Administrator of the Estate of Irving T. Bush,
Deceased, and as Executor of Virginia Casey Bush, Deceased, Respondent, v Ioannis Danalis, Appellant. |
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Haynes and Boone, LLP, New York City (Kendyl Hanks and Kenneth J. Rubenstein of counsel), for respondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Rosalyn Richter, J.), entered July 17, 2006, granting the motion of plaintiff's decedent Virginia Casey Bush for partial summary judgment, declaring that she had the exclusive right to manage the subject property pursuant to an operating agreement, unanimously reversed, on the law, without costs, the judgment vacated, the motion denied, and the matter remanded to Supreme Court for further proceedings.
There was no basis for the court to consider summary judgment on plaintiff's unpleaded claim for enforcement of the operating agreement. Summary judgment may be awarded on an unpleaded cause of action only if the proof supports such a claim and if the opposing party has not been misled to its prejudice (Weinstock v Handler, 254 AD2d 165, 166 [1998]).
Here, the amended complaint does not even make reference to the operating agreement, and in fact seeks to have all the agreements declared void, which is contradictory to the relief actually granted. Furthermore, even if it were appropriate to consider the unpleaded claim, summary judgment would not lie. The court erred in finding that a February 2002 interest holders' agreement between defendant and plaintiff's decedent Irving Bush was superseded by a subsequent operating agreement dated October 4, 2002, which was neither the subject of negotiation between defendant and Irving nor pertained to precisely the same subject matter. [*2]
We have considered defendant's remaining arguments and find them unavailing. Concur—Mazzarelli, J.P., Williams, Sweeny, Catterson and Moskowitz, JJ.