SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK

Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department

873 

CA 15-01772 

PRESENT: WHALEN, P.J., SMITH, LINDLEY, TROUTMAN, AND SCUDDER, JJ. 

 

IN THE MATTER OF KAMLEH S. TEHAN, AS EXECUTRIX 

OF THE ESTATE OF ROBERT J. TEHAN, DECEASED, 

PETITIONER-APPELLANT, MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

FOR JUDICIAL DISSOLUTION OF TEHAN’S CATALOG 

SHOWROOMS, INC., RESPONDENT-RESPONDENT.

(APPEAL NO. 2.) 

BARCLAY DAMON, LLP, SYRACUSE (JON P. DEVENDORF OF COUNSEL), FOR

PETITIONER-APPELLANT.

STEATES, REMMELL, STEATES & DZIEKAN, ESQS., UTICA (CARL S. DZIEKAN OF

COUNSEL), FOR RESPONDENT-RESPONDENT.

 

Appeal from an order of the Supreme Court, Oneida County (Patrick

F. MacRae, J.), entered August 3, 2015. The order, among other

things, granted respondent’s motion for summary judgment dismissing

the petition. 

It is hereby ORDERED that the order so appealed from is

unanimously modified on the law by denying respondent’s motion in part

and reinstating the first cause of action, and as modified the order

is affirmed without costs. 

Memorandum: Petitioner, in her capacity as executrix of the

estate of her husband (decedent) commenced this proceeding seeking,

inter alia, declaratory relief and dissolution of respondent pursuant

to Business Corporation Law § 1104-a. In a prior appeal (Matter of

Tehan v Tehan’s Catalog Showrooms, Inc., 110 AD3d 1498), this Court

affirmed an order that denied respondent’s motion insofar as it sought

summary judgment dismissing the petition for lack of standing to bring

a dissolution proceeding because decedent’s estate allegedly did not

hold 20% or more of the shares in respondent. That motion was denied

without prejudice to renew upon completion of discovery.

Respondent thereafter moved to dismiss the petition pursuant to

CPLR 3211 (a) (3) and for summary judgment, and petitioner cross-moved

for partial summary judgment dismissing respondent’s affirmative

defense alleging lack of standing, and seeking the relief sought in

the third cause of action in the petition pursuant to Business

Corporation Law § 1104-a. In appeal No. 1, petitioner appeals and

respondent cross-appeals from an order denying respondent’s motion,

granting that part of petitioner’s cross motion seeking summary

judgment dismissing the affirmative defense alleging lack of standing,
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CA 15-01772 

and otherwise denying the cross motion.

Following entry of the order in appeal No. 1, respondent again

moved for summary judgment dismissing the petition, and petitioner

cross-moved for various forms of relief. In appeal No. 2, petitioner

appeals from an order granting the motion and denying her cross

motion.

At the outset, we note that the appeal from the order in appeal

No. 1 must be dismissed inasmuch as that order is subsumed in the

final order in appeal No. 2 (see Hughes v Nussbaumer, Clarke & Velzy,

140 AD2d 988, 988; see also CPLR 5501 [a] [1]). In addition, although

respondent’s cross appeal must also be dismissed because it is not

aggrieved based on the final order in appeal No. 2 granting its motion

and dismissing the petition (see CPLR 5511; Matter of Speis v Penfield

Cent. Schs., 114 AD3d 1181, 1183), we may nevertheless consider its

contentions as alternative grounds for affirmance of the order in

appeal No. 2 (see Parochial Bus Sys. v Board of Educ. of City of N.Y.,

60 NY2d 539, 545-546; Matter of Harnischfeger v Moore, 56 AD3d 1131,

1131-1132).

We agree with petitioner that Supreme Court erred in granting

that part of respondent’s motion seeking summary judgment dismissing

the first cause of action. That cause of action sought judgment

declaring, inter alia, that the shareholders’ agreement executed in

1980 by decedent and the other shareholders of respondent had been

abandoned, and that respondent had waived its right to redeem the

shares held by decedent’s estate under the terms of the agreement by,

among other things, failing to exercise that right in a timely manner. 

Even assuming, arguendo, that respondent met its burden of

establishing its entitlement to judgment, we conclude that questions

of fact remain whether respondent abandoned the agreement (see Tehan,

110 AD3d at 1499; Rosiny v Schmidt, 185 AD2d 727, 732, lv denied 80

NY2d 762), waived its right to redeem decedent’s shares (see Estate of

Kingston v Kingston Farms Partnership, 130 AD3d 1464, 1465), or agreed

to toll the time limitations of the agreement (see generally Beacon

Term. Corp. v Chemprene, Inc., 75 AD2d 350, 354, lv denied 51 NY2d

706). We therefore modify the order in appeal No. 2 accordingly.

The court properly granted that part of respondent’s motion

seeking summary judgment dismissing the second cause of action, which

alleged that respondent breached an agreement with petitioner that was

reached orally in August 2011 and later confirmed in a letter in

January 2012. Respondent established as a matter of law that the

alleged agreement is unenforceable inasmuch as it amounted “ ‘to no

more than an agreement to agree’ ” (Anderson v Kernan, 133 AD3d 1234,

1235; see Joseph Martin, Jr., Delicatessen v Schumacher, 52 NY2d 105,

109-110).

Finally, the court also properly granted that part of

respondent’s motion seeking summary judgment dismissing the third

cause of action, which sought relief under Business Corporation Law 

§ 1104-a based upon respondent’s alleged oppressive conduct. As a

preliminary matter, we reject respondent’s contention that the court
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CA 15-01772 

erred in denying that part of its prior motion in appeal No. 1 seeking

summary judgment dismissing that cause of action based upon

petitioner’s alleged lack of standing under section 1104-a and in

granting that part of petitioner’s cross motion seeking summary

judgment dismissing the affirmative defense based upon lack of

standing. Respondent did not meet its burden of establishing its

entitlement to judgment with respect to petitioner’s lack of standing

(see Tehan, 110 AD3d at 1499). As the court properly concluded,

moreover, respondent is estopped from taking a position in this

proceeding contrary to the position taken in its tax returns that

decedent’s estate owned a 20% interest in respondent (see MahoneyBuntzman v Buntzman, 12 NY3d 415, 422; Matter of Frankel, 123 AD3d

826, 827-828). The court also properly concluded, however, that

respondent established its entitlement to judgment dismissing the

Business Corporation Law § 1104-a cause of action, and petitioner

failed to raise an issue of fact. Viewed in the light most favorable

to petitioner, the nonmoving party on this motion for summary judgment

(see Branham v Loews Orpheum Cinemas, Inc., 8 NY3d 931, 932), the

evidence established that respondent’s alleged conduct did not defeat

petitioner’s reasonable expectations or otherwise amount to oppressive

conduct within the meaning of the statute (see Orloff v Weinstein

Enters., 247 AD2d 63, 67; see generally Matter of Kemp & Beatley

[Gardstein], 64 NY2d 63, 72). 

Entered: November 10, 2016 Frances E. Cafarell

Clerk of the Court