| Benfield Elec. Supply Corp. v C & L El. Controls, Inc. |
| 2009 NY Slip Op 00030 [58 AD3d 423] |
| January 6, 2009 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| Benfield Electric Supply Corp., Respondent, v C & LElevator Controls, Inc., et al., Defendants, and Anthony Marchese,Appellant. |
—[*1] Goetz Fitzpatrick LLP, New York (Rosalie C. Valentino of counsel), forrespondent.
Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Howard H. Sherman, J.), entered September 6, 2007,which, insofar as appealed from as limited by the briefs, in an action for payment due on goodssold and delivered, granted plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment on its cause of actionfor breach of contract and denied defendant-appellant's cross motion to dismiss the action asagainst him, unanimously modified, on the law, to the extent of denying plaintiff's motion exceptto the extent of invoices dated after June 30, 2004, and otherwise affirmed, with costs in favor ofplaintiff-respondent payable by defendant-appellant.
Plaintiff established as a matter of law that it was entitled to collect on invoices, generatedby purchases made by defendant C & L Elevator Controls, from its sole corporate officerappellant Marchese, which postdated said corporation's dissolution date (June 30, 2004), sinceappellant was personally responsible for those charges (see Matter of Morris v New YorkState Dept. of Taxation & Fin., 82 NY2d 135 [1993]; Brandes Meat Corp. v Cromer,146 AD2d 666, 667 [1989]). However, with respect to the pre-June 30, 2004 invoices, the recordpresents triable issues of fact as to whether appellant disregarded the corporate formalities of hisnow-dissolved closely-held corporations, and exercised domination over them to commit a fraudor [*2]wrong against plaintiff that resulted in plaintiff's injury(see e.g. First Capital Asset Mgt. v N.A. Partners, 300 AD2d 112, 116 [2002]).Concur—Saxe, J.P., Nardelli, Buckley, Moskowitz and Renwick, JJ.