— A Leasing Control Inc. as Assignee of Firequench, Inc., Plaintiff–Appellant, v. 500 (2021)

Orders, Supreme Court, New York County (Tanya R. Kennedy, J.), entered December 18, 2019 and December 20, 2019, which granted defendants' motions for summary judgment dismissing the complaints in both actions on grounds of champerty, unanimously affirmed, with costs.

The assignment of Firequench's claims against defendants to plaintiff was champertous (see Justinian Capital SPC v. WestLB AG, N.Y. Branch, 28 NY3d 160, 165–166 [2016];  Judiciary Law § 489[1] ).  As plaintiff's president admitted during her deposition, the primary purpose of Firequench's assignment of its claims against defendants to plaintiff was for plaintiff to pursue litigation against defendants on the claims in exchange for a portion of the proceeds from the litigation (Justinian Capital SPC, 28 NY3d at 164–165).  Plaintiff and Firequench had no pre-existing relationship and plaintiff had no pre-existing interest in the claim before the assignment (compare Trust for Certificate Holders of Merrill Lynch Mtge. Invs., Inc. Pass–Through Certificates, Series 1999–C1 v Love Funding Corp., 13 NY3d 190, 200–201 [2009] ).  Instead, plaintiff was a shell company with no real assets, corporate structure, or operations, and it commenced litigation two days after the assignment (see Justinian Capital SPC, 28 NY3d at 165).