Hae Mook Chung v Maxam Props., LLC

2008 NY Slip Op 05799

Decided on June 26, 2008

Appellate Division, First Department

This opinion is uncorrected and subject to revision before publication in the Official Reports.

Decided on June 26, 2008
Lippman, P.J., Tom, Andrias, Saxe, JJ.
4040 115343/06






Jeffrey H. Roth, New York, for appellants.
Stephen Latzman, New York, for respondent.

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Jane S. Solomon, J.), entered April 20, 2007, insofar as it found defendants guilty of criminal and civil contempt, unanimously reversed, on the law and the facts, without costs, and plaintiff's application to hold defendants in contempt denied.

The injunction that defendants allegedly disobeyed was not clear and unequivocal enough to warrant a contempt finding (see e.g. Gerelli Ins. Agency, Inc. v Gerelli, 23 AD3d 341 [2005]; Howard S. Tierney, Inc. v James, 269 App Div 348, 354-355 [1945]). "At best, the order . . . was ambiguous" (Lubitz v Mehlman, 187 AD2d 97, 103 [1993], lv dismissed 82 NY2d 705 [1993]), and "[a]ny ambiguity in the court's mandate should be
resolved in favor of the would-be contemnor" (Richards v Estate
of Kaskel, 169 AD2d 111, 122 [1991], lv dismissed in part, denied in part 78 NY2d 1042 [1991]).

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER
OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.

ENTERED: JUNE 26, 2008

CLERK