VITRA INC v. [And a Third Party Action]. (2008)

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Doris Ling-Cohan, J.), entered October 2, 2007, which, insofar as appealed from, granted the motion of defendants Soho House, LLC, Soho House U.S. Corp., and Soho House New York, LLC (collectively Soho House), for partial summary judgment dismissing plaintiff's claim for punitive damages, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

Dismissal of plaintiff's claim for punitive damages was proper, where the record demonstrates that over a period of two to three years, leaks emanated from Soho House's facilities causing property damage to plaintiff's showroom and office and interference with its business.   The leaks had various causes, and Soho House undertook to remediate the problems and accommodate plaintiff, albeit not to plaintiff's satisfaction.   Such conduct does not rise to the level of egregious culpable conduct, or wrongdoing aimed at the general public as to warrant the imposition of punitive damages (see Rocanova v. Equitable Life Assur. Socy. of U.S., 83 N.Y.2d 603, 613, 612 N.Y.S.2d 339, 634 N.E.2d 940 [1994];  905 5th Assoc., Inc. v. 907 Corp., 47 A.D.3d 401, 851 N.Y.S.2d 393 [2008] ).

We have considered plaintiff's remaining arguments, including that Soho House's motion was not supported by evidence in admissible form, and find them unavailing.