Latest Array of Fraud Appellate Decisions Show Sparse Factual Analysis But Provide Up-to-Date Soundbites of Legal Principles

New York State is one of those jurisdictions with virtually no restrictions on intermediate interlocutory appeals from the lower courts. As a result, the New York Appellate Divisions are understaffed and overworked. And as a consequence of that, the Appellate Divisions (principally now the First and Second Departments) have resorted to rendering decisions that provide scant, if any, analysis of the facts of the cases and issues that come before them. So, I am now frequently seeing decisions that are really nothing more than a series of string cites to well-recognized legal principles—accompanied by only flat, conclusory determinations.

The recent case law is, therefore, often not very informative or instructive in applying existing legal doctrine to new and unchartered factual scenarios. Nevertheless, there were quite a lot of fraud-related decisions during the month of March 2025, so, as I continue to comb through all recent decisions involving fraud claims and issues, this post provides a thumbnail of the latest decisions rendered by our Appellate Divisions in March and an inventory of the up-to-date soundbites of recognized legal principles. There is one thing for sure—fraud claims are ubiquitous as ever.

Read the full blog post here.