### Wexler v Ambalo 2024 NY Slip Op 31220(U) April 9, 2024 Supreme Court, Kings County Docket Number: Index No. 536903/2023 Judge: LeonRuchelsman Cases posted with a "30000" identifier, i.e., 2013 NY Slip

Op30001(U), are republished from various New York State and local governmentsources, including the New

York State Unified Court System's eCourtsService. This opinion is uncorrected and not selected for official publication.

### FILED: KINGS COUNTY CLERK 04/09/2024 02:21 PM INDEX NO. 536903/2023 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 30 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 04/09/2024

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### SUPREME COURT OF THE 

### STATE OF NEW YORK COUNTY OT KINGS : CIVIL TERM: COMMERCIAL 8

---- .-----.-·---· -------·---· ·-·-.----- ·--.---- .x AA.RON WEXLER and RICK KAMINER,Plaintiffs, Decision ~hd order

- against

- Index No. 536903/2023 DAVID AMBALO, 4683 PARK DA LLC, SPRINGFIELD 141 LLC, and JOHN DOES and JANE DOES #1-10, the last 10 name·s being fictitious and unknown to the plaintiffs, Defendants, April 

### 9, 2024 ----·--··---------·- ·.-·----.--.-.-----------·----x· PRESENT: HON. LEON RUCHELSMAN MotionSeq. #1 & #2
The defendants have moved pursuant to CPLR.§3211 seeki,ng to dismiss the complaint for the failure to allege any causes of action. The plaintiff has cross-moved seeking partial summary judgement. The motions have been opposed respectively. Papers
were submittedby the parties and arguments were held. After reviewing allthe arguments this courtnow makes the following determination. According to the verified complaint the plaintiff Aaron Wexler owns 

### 52,5% of an entity called 2351 Management LLC, plaintiff Rick Kaminer owhs 17.5% and the defendant DavidAmbalo Owns 30% Of that entity. That entity is a 90% owner of 2351 Pacific Street located in Kings CoUhty. The ~emaining ten percent is owhedby Twinnies LLC, which is owned 

### byWexler and a non-party. Moreover, defendant Ambalo is the sole ow-ner o.f 46_83 Park DA LLC, which is the sole member of Springfield 141 LLC, which owns a 50% ownership interest inthe pr'operty locatedat 4683 Park Avenue in Bronx County. The other 50% owner is Forrest



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### FILED: KINGS COUNTY CLERK 04/09/2024 02:21 PM INDEX NO. 536903/2023 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 30 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 04/09/2024

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### Equitie•s 

### LLC, which 

## is 'Owned by the plaintiffs. On April 

### 5, 

### ·2023: the parties entered .into 

### a: settlement agreement whereby Ambalb wouldbecome the sole own:er of 23til Pacif.:l..c while the pla'inti£fs 

### would beco_me the sole owners of 46:-S3 Par·k and 

### that 

### further We·xier would pay Ambalo $500,000. The verified cornpiaint alleges. that 

### Ambalo. repudiated the agreement 

### by notifying 

### the plaintiffs he would not be transfe·rring any-of his :Shares 

### because· the 

### closing q.id not occur by 

### the closing date. The plaintiffs _commenced this action and 

### have asse;.rted 

### four caus.es 

### of action, namely 

### for speci,fic performance.,, breach of contract, expectation damages and tortio1,is 

### intE?arfe.tence. The 

### verified complaint ~ll~ges 

### tl:1.e plaintiffs sat.i:S.fied all the co.nditions necessary .f.or the.

. . tran.sf.er 

### and the defendant unilaterally brea.ched said 

### a_gr~ement. The 

### defe-ndants .have now :moved s~-~ki_ng t_o di.~mis9 the complaint.

### on the- 

### grounds no breach_of_ the 

### settlement ag.reer_nent 

### occurred becat.lsEi"

### the pla_ihtiffs 

### f.ailed to. satisfy 

### necessary conditiorispr·ecedent
. The plaintiff.;_i 

### have c

### ro~:s.-moved seekin:g 

### a <;ie:i;;"ermina:t-ion t:he defendant must comi:ily with the se-ttlement agreement. As noted the motions a::re>·opp_qsed.
Conclusions o.f: Law It is well s·e•ttled that upon a·motion tq di.smis-s the court must 

### determine, accept.ihg th!i:!• alleg.ations of 

### the complaint as true, wbethe·r tn-e p.iarty can succeed upon any reafrnnab1e· vi~w 

### o-f
2

..

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### FILED: KINGS COUNTY CLERK 04/09/2024 02:21 PM INDEX NO. 536903/2023 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 30 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 04/09/2024

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### those facts· 

### (Pere.z-v. 

### Y &

### M.Tr.anspo·rtationCo.rporati:0n;- 

### 219 AD3q 14.49, 1.96 NXS3d 145 [2q. pept., 202~]). Further, all the allegations· in the complaint a·te 

### deemed true and all 

### reasonahie inference.s 

### m-c;1.y be tjrawn _in fC;:J.y.or

# o.t the p.lain.t_j,ff (.ArchLva1 Ihc
.., 

### v. 177 Realty Corp., 

### 220 AD3d 909, 

### 198 NYS2d 567 [2d Dept., 

### ZOZ3l) . Whether-the complaint will -late.r 

### survive a ·motion for -summary judgment, or whe.ther 

### the 

### pla.intiff will

### ultimately be able t.o prove 

### its claims, 

### of cours.$, plays no. part in the detE;Jr~inatiqn,

# of .a- pre...,_discove.ry CPLR §·~211 motion to dismiss (~. Lam v. Weiss., 219 AD3d '7:13,. 195 N':i;'S3d 

### 4.s·s [2d Dept., .'2023)).. The settiemettt agr.e.ement .provided that, 

### UJ?On s.at,isfa.ction o.f a.11 conditio.ns precedent, the closingwould occ:ur .on 9r b~for~
one hundred and t"l,renty·

### days fromthe 

### date of 

### execution (see, Settlement Agreement, j2 [NYS-CEF D.oc. N.Q. ?J)
.. Section 

### 8 qf 

### the .agreement states that ':'Ambalo shall have the option o.f cancelling 

### this 

### Agreement should 

### the i

### terns provided in 

### section

## s., 6 .and 

### 7 herei.n- .not be· complied w.i.th'r (:id).. Furtner, Section 13 of the agreement states that ~'Wexler shall pay to Arribalo the 

### net sum of ·Five H.uttdred 

### Thousand Doii:ar:s (.$50.d,

### .000.0-0j at or 

### prior

### to Glps,ing (the "Payment"), by ce.rti'fied ch.eek or wire
.. Should Wexler 

### fail to ·make this Payment.by the ciosing Deadli_n.e, then 

### tp.i.s Agreement shall 

### be null and void, and the Parties shall 

### retain all of their ri9hts and obl~gationsprior to this
3



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### FILED: KINGS COUNTY CLERK 04/09/2024 02:21 PM INDEX NO. 536903/2023 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 30 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 04/09/2024

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### (id). There is no dispute that the plaintiffs failed to satisfy all the conditions precedentcontained in paragraphs 5, 6 and 7 and failed to pay Ambalo $500,000 pursuantto the agreement. The plaintiffs .argue that the agreementdid not contain a time of the
es-sence clause. Consequently, "Defendantswere therefore unc:3,ble to terminate the agreementwithout first sending an unequivocal notice that time is of the essence'' (see, Memorandum of Law; page 9 [NYSCEF Doc. No~ 12]); How~~er, a time of the es~ence clause is not required where the contract contains a specific termination provision (USA Recycling Inc.• v. Baldwin EndiCo RealtyAssociates Inc., 191 AD3d 619, 139 NYS3d 529 [1st Dept..., 2021])
. Furthermore, language in a .contract that states if conditions remain unfilled by a certain date then "the sole remedy of the purchaser is to elect to cancel this contract'; a time of the essence is surely implied (~r S'.guicciarini v. Park Ridge at Terryville Associates, 199 AD2d 376, 605NYS2d 372 [2d Dept•, 199 3J)• 

### In this case the agreement specifically statedthat upon the failure to comply with the conditionEi, the defendant had the Option to cancel the contract and that if the $500,000 was not paid by the closing date then the agreement is "null and void" (see, Settlement Agreement, 

### fil13 [NYSCEF Doc. NO. 2]). The plaintiffs argue the.defendants terminated the agreement
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### FILED: KINGS COUNTY CLERK 04/09/2024 02:21 PM INDEX NO. 536903/2023 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 30 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 04/09/2024

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### prematurely. Thus, defE;!.ndan,t's :r:-ep:i;,-eBent·ative, 

### Eli Ambalo, sent 

### _ap e~ail on 

### August 

### 10~ 2023 thatpurported to tancel the settlement 

### agreement 

### (see, NYSCEF Doc. 

### No. J.A) , However, ·Eli .Arribalo- was .not a party t.o the. 

### agreement

### .-?3-.nd the-re: 

### are: surely 

### questions wh_ether he 

### had the 

### authority to so 

### act. In 

### any 

### event
on September 11, 2.0-23 counsei" for David Ambalo sent -a lette.r to_: 

### plaintiffs 

### indicat.1.n9 that

### more

### than on~- :hundre:q. 

### and 

### twenty _days. had passed 

### arid the. plaintiffs had failed

### to satisfy the ccinditidris precedent and thus the -a-greetnent was void (.§.§§., NYSCJ~]F Doc. No. 7)•. Thqs, the 

### defendant 

### d.ii::i not have to 

### delay termination by 

### first serving ·a time ·-of 

### the essence letter. 

### Rather.,. termi·nation:was automatic upon the p.laintif•fis failure

# to satisfy the.conditions or pay Ambalo. Therefore,- .Ambalo's termination

### -occur-.r·ed 

### after one 

### hundr:ed and twenty 

### d.ays anq 

### the 

### agreement terminated at 

### thatjuncture. There- can

# be_ no causes ·Of 

### ac:tion

### thatflow therefrom. 

### Thus, the 

### cte:eendant's 

### motion seeking to dismiss the complaint is g--ranted. The 

### plaintiff.'s· cros-smotior1 is denied,. Sci 

### ordered.

DAT.ED: April 9·, 2024 

### Brooklyn·N.Y. ENTER:



### H"on. 

### te6~ Rue.helsman 

### JSC 5



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