FAÇADE TECHNOLOGY LLC v. CNY LLC (2023)

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Barry R. Ostrager, J.), entered May 13, 2022, which denied plaintiff's motion to certify the seventh cause of action of its verified complaint as a class action, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

Plaintiff, a subcontractor at a construction project near Times Square, seeks to recover unpaid amounts for the labor, materials, equipment, and services it allegedly furnished to defendant CNY Construction 701 LLC, the general contractor on the project.  In the seventh cause of action, plaintiff seeks to recover damages for alleged diversion of trust funds in violation of Lien Law article 3–A.

Supreme Court providently exercised its discretion in denying plaintiff's motion to maintain the seventh cause of action as a class action, as plaintiff failed to establish, as necessary for certification of a class action, that a “class action is superior to other available methods for the fair and efficient adjudication of the controversy” (CPLR 901[a][5];  see Pludeman v. Northern Leasing Sys., Inc., 74 A.D.3d 420, 422, 904 N.Y.S.2d 372 [1st Dept. 2010]).  On the contrary, the putative class members already have appeared and are represented in other pending related actions, pursuing their own independent claims that do not appear to include claims asserting diversion of trust funds.

Motion for a stay of the underlying proceedings pending resolution of the appeal, denied.