Arguments of Interest in the Court of Appeals for the Weeks of February 8 and 15, 2016

Upcoming arguments in the Court of Appeals of interest to commercial litigators:

Case No. 28: Matter of Aoki v. Aoki (to be argued February 10, 2016) (“Powers--Power of appointment--Validity of irrevocable partial release--Constructive fraud--Whether the Appellate Division erred in determining that (1) the burden-shifting framework for constructive fraud by a fiduciary applies only where the fiduciary was a party to or had an interest in the subject transaction and (2) the constructive fraud doctrine did not apply because decedent's attorneys were not parties to nor had an interest in the releases at issue, where the attorneys allegedly benefitted indirectly from the signing of the releases.”). See the First Department’s decision here.
Case No. 34: Spoleta Construction, LLC v. Aspen Insurance UK Limited (to be argued February 16, 2016) (“Insurance--Coverage--Whether plaintiff general contractor on a construction project provided timely notice of an "occurrence" such that it was entitled to coverage as an additional insured under the commercial general liability insurance policy issued by defendant Aspen to a subcontractor; Declaratory judgment action seeking defense and indemnification in underlying personal injury action by injured worker.”) See the Fourth Department’s decision here.
Case No. 42: PAF-PAR LLC v Silberberg (to be argued February 18, 2016) (“Suretyship and Guarantee--Guarantee of promissory note--Borrower's full payment of modified loan amount--Guarantor not liable for more--Whether the guarantor is liable for the full original loan amount where the borrower satisfied its obligations under a modification agreement and the guaranty states that the guarantor's obligations shall not be affected by "modification, alteration or rearrangement."). See our blog post about the First Department's decision here, and our post about the Court of Appeals' granting leave to appeal here.