Opinion · Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York

Canstar v. J.A. Jones Construction Co.

212 A.D.2d 452

Type
Opinion
Court
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
Jurisdiction
New York
Date
1995-02-21
Topic
bankruptcy

How later courts describe this case

  • dismissing claim for breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealing as “extrinsically tied to the damages allegedly resulting from a breach of contract”
  • affirming dismissal of counterclaim as redundant because “a breach-of an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing is intrinsically tied to the damages allegedly resulting from a breach of the contract”

Citator

UpLaw has not yet analyzed Canstar v. J.A. Jones Construction Co.. The absence of a flag is not a finding that it is good law.

Cited by
51 opinions

—Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Beatrice Shainswit, J.), entered October 8, 1993, which, inter alia, dismissed defendant and third-party plaintiff’s first counterclaim for breach of contract to the extent it sought damages in excess of $1,000 per day, dismissed its second counterclaim for fraudulent inducement/misrepresentation and dismissed its fifth counterclaim for breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, unanimously affirmed, with costs.

*453 The parties’ contract unambiguously provides that the amount of damages available for delay is limited to $1,000 per day (see, W.W.W. Assocs. v Giancontieri, 77 NY2d 157, 162). Moreover, if any conflict arises, the parties specifically agreed that the provisions of the Prime Contract shall prevail, and that contract contains a liquidated damage clause to address any delay damages, as allegedly occurred here.

The second counterclaim sounding in fraud fails as it merely is an improper attempt to recast the breach of contract claim in terms of fraud (see, Tesoro Petroleum Corp. v Holborn Oil Co., 108 AD2d 607, appeal dismissed 65 NY2d 637). Indeed, there is no assertion that plaintiff allegedly breached any obligation collateral to or separate and apart from the obligations it had agreed to perform pursuant to the contract (supra).

Finally, the fifth counterclaim is redundant since a breach of an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing is intrinsically tied to the damages allegedly resulting from a breach of the contract (see, Fasolino Foods Co. v Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, 961 F2d 1052, 1056). Concur—Murphy, P. J., Rosenberger, Wallach, Rubin and Ross, JJ.