Senter v Gitlitz
2012 NY Slip Op 05734 [97 AD3d 808]
July 25, 2012
Appellate Division, Second Department
As corrected through Wednesday, August 22, 2012


Stewart Senter, Individually and Derivatively on Behalf ofAmerican Consumer Shows, Inc., Now Known as ACS Shows, Inc., et al.,Respondents,
v
Craig Gitlitz et al., Appellants.

[*1]Dunington Bartholow & Miller, LLP, New York, N.Y. (Thomas V. Marino and EvaAdaszko of counsel), for appellants.

Rosenberg Calica & Birney, LLP, Garden City, N.Y. (Ronald J. Rosenberg and Lesley A.Reardon of counsel), for respondents.

In an action, inter alia, to recover damages for breach of contract, the defendants appeal fromso much of an order of the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Bucaria, J.), dated September 7,2011, as denied that branch of their motion which was for summary judgment dismissing thecomplaint.

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

The defendants moved, inter alia, for summary judgment dismissing the plaintiff's breach ofcontract cause of action as time-barred. A breach of contract cause of action accrues, and therelevant six-year statute of limitations begins to run, at the time of the alleged breach (seeCPLR 213 [2]; 6D Farm Corp. vCarr, 63 AD3d 903, 907 [2009]). Here, the defendants failed to establish, prima facie,that the breach of contract cause of action, which alleged the failure to make certain dividendpayments within the six-year period prior to commencement of the action, was time-barred(see CPLR 213 [2]; 6D Farm Corp. v Carr, 63 AD3d at 907). Accordingly, theSupreme Court properly denied that branch of the defendants' motion which was for summaryjudgment dismissing the breach of contract cause of action as time-barred.

The defendants also failed to demonstrate, prima facie, that the cause of action allegingbreach of fiduciary duty was time-barred, since the alleged acts upon which the cause of actionwas predicated occurred in 2009, approximately two years prior to the commencement of thepresent action (see CPLR 213 [1]; 214 [4]; see generally Carbon Capital Mgt., LLC v American Express Co., 88AD3d 933 [2011]; Wiesenthal vWiesenthal, 40 AD3d 1078, 1079-1080 [2007]). Accordingly, the Supreme Court alsoproperly denied that branch of the defendants' motion which was for summary judgmentdismissing the cause of action alleging breach of fiduciary duty as time-barred.

The defendants' remaining contentions are without merit. Skelos, J.P., Florio, Belen andSgroi, JJ., concur.


NYPTI Decisions © 2026 is a project of New York Prosecutors Training Institute (NYPTI) made possible by leveraging the work we've done providing online research and tools to prosecutors.

NYPTI would like to thank New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, New York State Senate's Open Legislation Project, New York State Unified Court System, New York State Law Reporting Bureau and Free Law Project for their invaluable assistance making this project possible.

Install the free RECAP extensions to help contribute to this archive. See https://free.law/recap/ for more information.