Furlender v. Sichenzia Ross Friedman Ference LLP

• Decision Date: 07 December 2010
• Citation: Furlender v. Sichenzia Ross Friedman Ference LLP, 912 N.Y.S.2d 204, 79 A.D.3d 470 (N.Y. App. Div. 2010)
• Parties: Boris FURLENDER, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. SICHENZIA ROSS FRIEDMAN FERENCE LLP, Defendant-Respondent, American Bicycle LLC, et al., Defendants. [And a Third-Party Action].
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

912 N.Y.S.2d 204

79 A.D.3d 470

Boris FURLENDER, Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.SICHENZIA ROSS FRIEDMAN FERENCE LLP, Defendant-Respondent,American Bicycle LLC, et al., Defendants.[And a Third-Party Action].

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

Dec. 7, 2010.

Krol & O'Connor, New York (Igor Krol of counsel), for appellant.

Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP, New York (Mark K. Anesh of counsel), for respondent.

TOM, J.P., ANDRIAS, SWEENY, DeGRASSE, ROMÁN, JJ.

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Edward H. Lehner, J.), entered October 20, 2009, which granted defendant-respondent law firm's (defendant) motion pursuant to CPLR 3211(a)(1) to dismiss the action as against it, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

The affidavit of defendant's attorney was a proper vehicle for the submission of acceptable attachments providing " 'evidentiary proof in admissible form', e.g., documents," even though the attorney had no first-hand knowledge of the underlying facts ( Zuckerman v. City of New York,49 N.Y.2d 557, 563, 427 N.Y.S.2d 595, 404 N.E.2d 718[1980] ).Those documents, prepared by defendant in connection with the establishment of an enterprise between plaintiff and defendant Sherman, a nonparty to this appeal, conclusively show that defendant structured the enterprise pursuant to plaintiff's instructions, refuting plaintiff's contrary allegation.Specifically, the authenticated documents show that defendant, as instructed by plaintiff, structured the enterprise so as to establish a...