BT Holdings, LLC v. Vill. of Chester

• Citation: 137 N.Y.S.3d 458,189 A.D.3d 754
• Decision Date: 02 December 2020
• Docket Number: 2018–02654,2018–09517,2016–05428,Index No. 1480/15
• Parties: BT HOLDINGS, LLC, respondent-appellant, v. VILLAGE OF CHESTER, et al., appellants-respondents.
• Court: New York Supreme Court Appellate Division

189 A.D.3d 754

137 N.Y.S.3d 458

BT HOLDINGS, LLC, respondent-appellant,

v.VILLAGE OF CHESTER, et al., appellants-respondents.

2016–05428

2018–02654

2018–09517

Index No. 1480/15

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department, New York.

Argued—October 15, 2019

December 2, 2020

Feerick Lynch MacCartney & Nugent, PLLC, South Nyack, N.Y. (Donald J. Feerick, Jr., Mary E. Marzolla, and Patrick A. Knowles of counsel), for appellants-respondents.

Jacobowitz & Gubits, LLP, Walden, N.Y. (Kelly A. Pressler and Kara J. Cavallo of counsel), for respondent-appellant.

MARK C. DILLON, J.P., JEFFREY A. COHEN, FRANCESCA E. CONNOLLY, LINDA CHRISTOPHER, JJ.

DECISION & ORDER

In an action, inter alia, to recover damages for breach of contract and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, the defendants appeal from (1) an order of the Supreme Court, Orange County (Elaine Slobod, J.), dated May 11, 2016, (2) a judgment of the same court (Thomas E. Walsh II, J.) entered January 16, 2018, and (3) an order of the same court (Thomas E. Walsh II, J.) dated May 29, 2018, and the plaintiff cross-appeals from the order dated May 29, 2018. The order dated May 11, 2016, insofar as appealed from, denied those branches of the defendants' motion which were pursuant to CPLR 3211(a) to dismiss the first through fourth causes of action or, in the alternative, for summary judgment dismissing those causes of action. The judgment, upon a jury verdict on the issue of liability in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendants, and upon a jury verdict on the issue of damages, is in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendants in the principal sum of $2,375,000. The order dated May 29, 2018, insofar as appealed from, denied the defendants' motion pursuant to CPLR 4404(a) to set aside the jury verdicts on the issue of liability and damages and for judgment as a matter of law. The order dated May 29, 2018, insofar as cross-appealed from, denied that branch of the plaintiff's motion which was pursuant to CPLR 4404(a) to set aside the jury verdict on the issue of damages as contrary to the weight of the evidence and, in effect, for an additur to the award of damages.

ORDERED that the appeal from the order dated May 11, 2016, is dismissed; and it is further,

ORDERED that the judgment is reversed, on the law, that branch of the defendants' motion which was pursuant to CPLR 3211(a) to dismiss the first through fourth causes of action is granted, that branch of the defendants' motion which was for summary judgment dismissing those causes of action is denied as academic, the complaint is dismissed, and the order dated May 11, 2016, is modified accordingly; and it is further,

ORDERED that the appeal and the cross appeal from the order dated May 29, 2018, are dismissed as academic in light of our determination on the appeal from the judgment; and it is further,

ORDERED that one bill of costs is awarded to the defendants.

The appeal from the order dated May 11, 2016, must be dismissed because the right of direct appeal therefrom terminated with the entry of the judgment in the action (see Matter of Aho , 39 N.Y.2d 241, 248, 383 N.Y.S.2d 285, 347 N.E.2d 647 ). The issues raised on the appeal from the order are brought up for review and have been considered on the appeal from the judgment (see CPLR 5501[a][1] ).

BT Holdings, LLC (hereinafter BT Holdings), is the owner of four tax parcels, including three parcels consisting of approximately 7.8 acres situated in the Village of Chester, and one parcel consisting of approximately 60.6 acres situated in the Town of Chester. In January 2008, BT Holdings petitioned to annex the parcel situated within the Town from the Town into the Village to develop the tax parcels for senior housing and multifamily housing. Frank J. Nussbaum, a member of BT Holdings, had advised the Village that the proposed development project would not comply with existing zoning, and thus, the Village considered the enactment of a new zoning district for the parcels called "Residential Multifamily–Neighborhood" (hereinafter RM–N).

In March 2008, the Town of Chester Town Board (hereinafter Town Board) and the Village of Chester Board of Trustees (hereinafter Village Board) conducted a hearing on the annexation petition. The hearing was adjourned and held open pending the completion of the environmental review of the petition under the State Environmental Quality Review Act ( ECL 8–0101 et seq. ; hereinafter SEQRA). On August 18, 2011, following a multiyear review process, the Village Board, as the Village's lead agency, issued a final environmental impact statement (hereinafter FEIS), which included a determination of the positive benefits to the Village and the Town that would arise from the proposed annexation, the development project, and the proposed RM–N zone. On December 12, 2011, the Village Board issued SEQRA findings regarding the impact of the annexation, zone change, and residential development. The findings set forth, inter alia, that the four parcels comprising the project site were to be zoned RM–N, a new zoning district to be adopted post-annexation. The findings further discussed the benefits and compatibility with existing zoning of the proposed RM–N zone. On April 2, 2012, the Village Board voted to approve the annexation petition, finding that it was "in the overall public interest." However, on May 9, 2012, the Town Board issued its own SEQRA findings and voted to deny the annexation petition based on "alleged identified adverse environmental impacts the Town believed would result from the size and scale of BT Holdings' proposed residential development."

On June 15, 2012, the Village Board commenced a special proceeding in this Court pursuant to General Municipal Law § 712 (hereinafter the Appellate Division proceeding) seeking to overturn the Town Board's May 9, 2012 denial of the annexation petition and its finding that annexation is not in the overall public interest. Upon motion to this Court, BT Holdings was granted party status in the special proceeding. On July 9, 2012, BT Holdings and the Village Board commenced a CPLR article 78 proceeding in the Supreme Court (hereinafter the Supreme Court proceeding) to annul the Town Board's SEQRA findings issued on May 9, 2012. In June 2013, the Appellate Division proceeding and the Supreme Court proceeding were settled by stipulations of settlement. Pursuant to the stipulations, BT Holdings agreed to reduce the number of residential units it planned to build, to the extent that it would build no more than 340 residential units, with no fewer than 100 to be age-restricted, and the Town Board agreed that the downsizing of the development removed its environmental impact concerns and agreed to adopt the Village Board's SEQRA findings. Pursuant to the Appellate Division proceeding stipulation, the Town was to file an order approving the annexation petition and the parties agreed to work cooperatively to complete the transfer of the annexed lands. The stipulations set forth that "[c]onstruction shall be undertaken in the manner described and set forth in the [FEIS] and the Village's SEQRA findings." Both stipulations also stated that the project is subject to review and approval by the Village of Chester Planning Board (hereinafter the Planning Board). Thereafter, the Planning Board issued a report opposing the enactment of the RM–N zoning, finding that the development could be built as planned under existing zoning. On November 3, 2014, following the issuance of the Planning Board's report, the Village Board voted against enacting three different proposed zoning amendments, and declined to apply any zoning classification to the parcels.

In March 2015, BT Holdings commenced this action against the Village and the Village Board (hereinafter together the defendants) seeking, inter alia, to recover damages for breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and for a judgment declaring that the defendants' failure to zone the parcels constituted a taking of property without just compensation in violation of the United States and New York Constitutions. BT Holdings alleged, among other things, that the defendants breached their obligation under the stipulations by failing to enact the RM–N zoning, or any zoning, so as to allow construction of the project to proceed in accordance with the FEIS and SEQRA findings as required by the stipulations. The action was removed to the United States District Court of the Southern District of New York, and in an order dated February 23, 2016, the District Court granted that branch of the defendants' motion which was to dismiss the cause of action alleging an unconstitutional taking of property as unripe, and remanded the remaining causes of action to the New York Supreme Court.

Thereafter, the defendants moved in the Supreme Court, inter alia, pursuant to CPLR 3211(a) to dismiss the remaining causes of action or, in the alternative, for summary judgment dismissing those causes of action. In an order dated May 11, 2016, the court denied those branches of the defendants' motion. The defendants appeal from that order.

Subsequently, after a jury trial on the issue of liability, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, finding, inter alia, that the defendants breached the stipulations by failing to enact the RM–N zoning or any zoning that would allow construction of the project. After a jury trial on the issue of damages, the jury returned a verdict finding that the market value of the subject property as of November 3, 2014, the date of the breach of the stipulations, was the sum of $3,425,000, that the market value of the property as of that date would have been $5,800,000 had the defendants not breached the stipulations, and that BT Holdings therefore sustained damages in the sum of $2,375,000. Thereafter, BT Holdings moved, among other things, pursuant to CPLR 4404(a) to set aside the...