Zelouf Int'l Corp. v. Rivercity, LLC

• Decision Date: 31 December 2014
• Docket Number: 2012-09182
• Citation: Zelouf Int'l Corp. v. Rivercity, LLC, 2014 NY Slip Op 9123, 999 N.Y.S.2d 523, 123 A.D.3d 1114 (N.Y. App. Div. 2014)
• Parties: ZELOUF INTERNATIONAL CORP., appellant, v. RIVERCITY, LLC, et al., respondents, et al., defendant.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

123 A.D.3d 1114

999 N.Y.S.2d 523

2014 N.Y. Slip Op. 09123

ZELOUF INTERNATIONAL CORP., appellant

v.RIVERCITY, LLC, et al., respondents, et al., defendant.

2012-09182

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

Dec. 31, 2014.

Pardalis & Nohavicka, LLP, Astoria, N.Y. (Joseph Nohavicka and Vivianna Schwoerer of counsel), for appellant.

Harrington, Ocko & Monk, LLP, White Plains, N.Y. (John T.A. Rosenthal of counsel), for respondents.

PETER B. SKELOS, J.P., THOMAS A. DICKERSON, LEONARD B. AUSTIN, and JOSEPH J. MALTESE, JJ.

Opinion

In an action to set aside a conveyance of stock as fraudulent under the Debtor and Creditor Law, the plaintiff appeals, as limited by its brief, from so much of an order of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Agate, J.), entered July 12, 2012, as denied its motion for summary judgment on the complaint, and granted that branch of the cross motion of the defendants Rivercity, LLC, Efstathios Valiotis, and Top Cove Associates, Inc., which was for summary judgment dismissing the complaint insofar as asserted against them.

ORDERED that the order is affirmed insofar as appealed from, with costs.

The plaintiff extended a loan to the defendant Demetrios Bekas, who failed to repay. The plaintiff then commenced an action to recover on the debt, and eventually obtained a judgment in its favor. Before the plaintiff obtained the judgment, Bekas transferred stock he owned in the defendant Top Cove Associates, Inc. (hereinafter Top Cove), to the defendant Rivercity, LLC (hereinafter Rivercity), in which the defendant Efstathios Valiotis had an interest. The plaintiff thereafter commenced this action to set aside the stock transfer under the Debtor and Creditor Law, alleging that the transfer was made without fair consideration. The plaintiff moved for summary judgment and Rivercity, Valiotis, and Top Cove (hereinafter collectively the defendants) cross-moved for summary judgment, inter alia, dismissing the complaint insofar as asserted against them. The Supreme Court, among other things, denied the plaintiff's motion and granted that branch of the defendants' cross motion which was for summary judgment dismissing the complaint insofar as asserted against them.

Debtor and Creditor Law § 272(a) provides that “[f]air consideration is given for property ... [w]hen in exchange for such property ... as a fair equivalent therefor, and in good faith, property is conveyed or an antecedent debt is satisfied.” A conveyance that satisfies an...