Opinion
8178 8179 8180 Index 651360/15
01-22-2019
WATERSCAPE RESORT LLC, Plaintiff–Respondent, v. PAVARINI MCGOVERN, LLC, Defendant–Appellant. Waterscape Resort LLC, Plaintiff–Appellant–Respondent, v. Pavarini McGovern, LLC, Defendant–Respondent–Appellant.
John E. Osborn, P.C., New York (Daniel H. Crow of counsel), for appellant/respondent-appellant. Lazarus & Lazarus, P.C., New York (Harlan M. Lazarus of counsel), for respondent/appellant-respondent.
John E. Osborn, P.C., New York (Daniel H. Crow of counsel), for appellant/respondent-appellant.
Lazarus & Lazarus, P.C., New York (Harlan M. Lazarus of counsel), for respondent/appellant-respondent.
Sweeny, J.P., Richter, Tom, Kern, Singh, JJ.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Richard F. Braun, J.), entered August 24, 2016, which denied defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, unanimously affirmed, without costs. Judgment, same court and Justice, entered October 20, 2017, dismissing the complaint, unanimously reversed, without costs, and vacated. Appeal from order, same court and Justice, entered October 3, 2017, which granted defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint pursuant to the doctrine of res judicata, unanimously dismissed, without costs, as subsumed in the appeal from the judgment.
Because plaintiff's contract claim was not ripe when plaintiff moved in the federal adversarial proceeding for leave to assert a counterclaim, the claim is not a compulsory counterclaim pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 13(a)(1). Thus, it is not barred in this subsequent action under the doctrine of res judicata (cf. Paramount Pictures Corp. v. Allianz Risk Transfer AG, 141 A.D.3d 464, 467–46, 36 N.Y.S.3d 118 [1st Dept. 2016], affd 31 N.Y.3d 64, 73 N.Y.S.3d 472, 96 N.E.3d 737 [2018] ).
The dispute resolution provisions in the parties' agreement are ambiguous as a matter of law ( Greenfield v. Philles Records, Inc. , 98 N.Y.2d 562, 569–570, 750 N.Y.S.2d 565, 780 N.E.2d 166 [2002] ).