Shmueli v NRT N.Y., Inc.

Shmueli v NRT N.Y., Inc. 2009 NY Slip Op 09073 [68 AD3d 479] December 8, 2009 Appellate Division, First Department Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. As corrected through Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Sarit Shmueli, Respondent,
v
NRT New York, Inc., Doing Business as The Corcoran Group, Appellant.

—[*1] Bragar Wexler Eagel & Squire, PC, New York (Lawrence P. Eagel of counsel), for appellant.

Sarit Shmueli, respondent pro se.

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Michael Stallman, J., and a jury), entered January 5, 2007, awarding plaintiff compensatory damages of $400,000 plus prejudgment interest, and punitive damages of $1,200,000 plus postverdict interest, unanimously modified, on the law, to vacate the award of punitive damages, and otherwise affirmed, without costs.

The award of compensatory damages is supported by the weight of the evidence showing that when defendant, a real estate brokerage firm, terminated its association with plaintiff, a real estate broker, defendant converted plaintiff's customer list and other information that she had stored on the computer that defendant had provided to her, and that plaintiff's resulting loss of commissions amounted to $400,000. We vacate the award of punitive damages because defendant's practice of precluding a terminated employee from having access to its computer system does not evince a high degree of moral turpitude (see Ross v Louise Wise Servs., Inc., 8 NY3d 478, 489 [2007]). Concur—Tom, J.P., Nardelli, Renwick, Freedman and Roman, JJ.