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ALIPERTI v. LAUREL LINKS, LTD

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department.
Mar 28, 2006
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Ordered that the order is affirmed, without costs or disbursements.

A plaintiff seeking specific performance of a contract for the sale of real property bears the burden of demonstrating that he or she was ready, willing, and able to perform his or her obligations under the contract, regardless of any alleged anticipatory breach by the defendant ( see Realty Equities, Inc. v. Walbaum, Inc., 18 AD3d 531; Johnson v. Phelan, 281 AD2d 394, 395; Huntington Min. Holdings v. Cottontail Plaza, 96 AD2d 526, affd 60 NY2d 997). Unsubstantiated assertions that the funds necessary to perform could be secured, or conclusory assertions that the plaintiff was ready, willing, and able to perform, are insufficient to satisfy this burden ( see Internet Homes, Inc. v. Vitulli, 8 AD3d 438, 439). The plaintiff's conclusory assertions in the instant case failed to demonstrate, prima facie, that he was entitled to specific performance of the instant contract ( see generally Zuckerman v. City of New York, 49 NY2d 557, 562).

"`A contract will be treated as abandoned when one party acts in a manner inconsistent with the existence of the contract and the other party acquiesces in that behavior. That is, the refusal of one party to perform [the] contract amounts to an abandonment of it, leaving the other party to his [or her] choice of remedies, but his [or her] assent to abandonment dissolves the contract so that he [or she] can neither sue for a breach nor compel specific performance'" ( Savitsky v. Sukenik, 240 AD2d 557, 559, quoting 91 NY Jur 2d, Real Property Sales and Exchange ยง 146). "The issue of repudiation or abandonment is an issue of fact" ( Bercow v. Damus, 5 AD3d 711, 712). The defendants failed to establish, prima facie, that the plaintiff had abandoned the instant contract.

Accordingly, the motion and the cross motions were properly denied.