Sokolik v. Pateman

• Decision Date: 19 February 2014
• Citation: 981 N.Y.S.2d 111,2014 N.Y. Slip Op. 01158,114 A.D.3d 839
• Parties: Andew SOKOLIK, respondent-appellant, v. Charles M. PATEMAN, et al., respondents, Frank Racanelli, appellant-respondent.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

114 A.D.3d 839
981 N.Y.S.2d 111
2014 N.Y. Slip Op. 01158

Andew SOKOLIK, respondent-appellant,
v.
Charles M. PATEMAN, et al., respondents,
Frank Racanelli, appellant-respondent.

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

Feb. 19, 2014.

[981 N.Y.S.2d 112]

Moses & Singer, LLP, New York, N.Y. (Maguerite E. Royer of counsel), for appellant-respondent.

Mark E. Constantine, Irvington, N.Y., for respondent-appellant.

PETER B. SKELOS, J.P., L. PRISCILLA HALL, JEFFREY A. COHEN, and SYLVIA O. HINDS–RADIX, JJ.

In an action for specific performance of a contract and to recover damages for breach of contract, the defendant Frank Racanelli appeals, as limited by his brief, from so much of a judgment of the Supreme Court, Westchester County (Giacomo, J.), dated September 12, 2011, as, upon a jury verdict in favor of the plaintiff and against him, awarded the plaintiff interest at a rate of 10% per annum from March 31, 2001, to the date of the verdict on the principal amount due on a certain promissory note, and the plaintiff cross-appeals from so much of the same judgment as did not award prejudgment interest pursuant to CPLR 5001, and did not award him judgment against the defendant Dearman Park Homeowners Associates.

ORDERED that the judgment is modified, on the law, by deleting the provision thereof awarding the plaintiff interest at a rate of 10% per annum from March 31, 2001, to the date of the verdict on the

[981 N.Y.S.2d 113]

principal amount due on the promissory note, and substituting therefor a provision awarding the plaintiff prejudgment interest at the statutory rate of 9% per annum from March 26, 2002; as so modified, the judgment is affirmed insofar as appealed and cross-appealed from, without costs or disbursements, and the matter is remitted to the Supreme Court, Westchester County, for a recomputation of prejudgment interest in accordance herewith, and thereafter the entry of an appropriate amended judgment.

This action involves an agreement dated March 31, 2001, between the defendants Charles M. Pateman, Westwood Development Associates (hereinafter Westwood), Frank Racanelli, and Padriac Steinschneider (hereinafter collectively the Debtors) and the plaintiff Andrew Sokolik, pursuant to which the plaintiff agreed to loan the Debtors the sum of $216,250 for the benefit of a housing development, to be evidenced by a promissory note signed by the Debtors. The promissory note, dated March 26, 2001, required repayment of the principal sum of $216,250 one year after the date of the note. The agreement gave the plaintiff the option to apply the principal amount of the loan plus an additional $50,000 “towards the purchase price of” a certain parcel of real property, which option had to be...