Case Name: Stephen R. Stegich, Respondent, v. Saab Cars USA, Inc., et al., Appellants
Court: New York Supreme Court, Appellate Term
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1998-05-04
Citations: 177 Misc. 2d 81
Docket Number: 
Parties: Stephen R. Stegich, Respondent, v Saab Cars USA, Inc., et al., Appellants.
Judges: 
Reporter: New York Miscellaneous Reports
Volume: 177
Pages: 81–82

Head Matter:
[676 NYS2d 756]
Stephen R. Stegich, Respondent, v Saab Cars USA, Inc., et al., Appellants.
Supreme Court, Appellate Term, First Department,
May 4, 1998
APPEARANCES OF COUNSEL
Couch, White, Brenner, Howard & Feigenbaum, L. L. P., Albany (Paul A. Feigenbaum of counsel), for appellants. Stephen R. Stegich, pro se, and Condon & Forsyth, New York City (Stephen R. Stegich of counsel), for respondent.

Opinion:
OPINION OF THE COURT
Per Curiam.
Order entered April 3, 1997 (Marcy S. Friedman, J.), modified by granting that portion of defendants' motion seeking to strike plaintiffs demand for punitive damages; as modified, order affirmed, with $10 costs to defendants-appellants.
Even when viewed in the favorable light to which it is entitled on a motion to dismiss, the complaint fails to support a viable claim for punitive damages. Conspicuously absent from either the four comers of the complaint or the evidentiary material presented below (see, Guggenheimer v Ginzberg, 43 NY2d 268, 274-275) are any facts evidencing that the defendants' conduct — in failing to disclose a presale repair to the plaintiffs Saab automobile — was part of a pattern of similar conduct directed at the public generally (see, New York Univ. v Continental Ins. Co., 87 NY2d 308, 315-316; Rocanova v Equitable Life Assur. Socy., 83 NY2d 603, 613). Plaintiffs general assertion that he was "only one of many members of the public who entered the defendant [dealer's] showroom to purchase a 'new' car" is hardly sufficient to sustain a finding that defendants' conduct constituted a public wrong. In this regard, the situation at bar is clearly distinguishable from that presented in BMW of N. Am. v Gore (517 US 559), where an automobile manufacturer was shown to have adopted a nationwide policy of nondisclosure of presale repairs, a policy implemented in connection with nearly 1,000 new car sales. To the extent that plaintiff now seeks to rely on the provisions of General Business Law § 396-p (5) — governing dealer disclosure of presale repairs of new motor vehicles — we note that no violation of this statute was pleaded in the complaint or shown in the record.
McCooe, J. P., and Freedman, J., concur.