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Amore Partners, Inc. v. Mephisto, Inc.

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Dec 11, 1995
222 A.D.2d 473 (N.Y. App. Div. 1995)

Opinion

December 11, 1995

Appeal from the Supreme Court, Suffolk County (Floyd, J.).


Ordered that the order and judgment is affirmed insofar as appealed from, with costs.

The plaintiff Amore Partners, Inc. (hereinafter Amore) operated a shoe store which, pursuant to a written agreement, had shoes supplied to it by the defendant Mephisto, Inc., sued herein as Mephisto, U.S.A. (hereinafter Mephisto). When Amore decided to cease operations, it entered into a written termination agreement with Mephisto which resolved all the rights and liabilities of the parties. Subsequently, Amore instituted this action against Mephisto to recover damages for breach of the agreement and fraudulent inducement to enter into the agreement. Mephisto counterclaimed and instituted a third-party action.

The Supreme Court has the power to grant summary judgment to a nonmoving party, predicated upon a motion for that relief by another party (see, e.g., Wood v State Bank, 203 A.D.2d 278). Therefore, although Amore had moved for different relief, the Supreme Court had the authority to search the record and award summary judgment to Amore on its first cause of action since Mephisto had moved for summary judgment dismissing the entire complaint (see, e.g., Marsico v Southland Corp., 148 A.D.2d 503, 506). Furthermore, summary judgment on the first cause of action to recover damages for breach of the termination agreement was properly granted in favor of Amore because there was no issue of fact that Mephisto had breached the clear and unambiguous terms of the termination agreement (see, e.g., Costa v District Nursing Assn., 175 A.D.2d 274). Moreover, because the termination agreement was unambiguous, the Supreme Court properly refused to consider parol evidence offered by Mephisto (see, e.g., Chimart Assocs. v Paul, 66 N.Y.2d 570). Balletta, J.P., Thompson, Joy and Goldstein, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

Amore Partners, Inc. v. Mephisto, Inc.

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Dec 11, 1995
222 A.D.2d 473 (N.Y. App. Div. 1995)
Case details for

Amore Partners, Inc. v. Mephisto, Inc.

Case Details

Full title:AMORE PARTNERS, INC., Respondent, v. MEPHISTO, INC., Sued Herein as…

Court:Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department

Date published: Dec 11, 1995

Citations

222 A.D.2d 473 (N.Y. App. Div. 1995)
635 N.Y.S.2d 57

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