ORDERED that on the court's own motion, the defendants' notice of appeal from the order entered January 7, 2002, is treated as an application for leave to appeal from that order, and leave to appeal is granted (see CPLR 5701[c]); and it is further,
ORDERED that the order entered December 13, 2001, is modified, on the law, by deleting the provision thereof granting that branch of the plaintiffs' motion which was for leave to amend the complaint to add a fourth cause of action, and substituting therefor a provision denying that branch of the motion; as so modified, the order is affirmed, without costs or disbursements; and it is further,
ORDERED that the order entered January 7, 2002, is affirmed, without costs or disbursements.
In the absence of surprise or prejudice to the opposing party, leave to amend a complaint is to be freely granted (see CPLR 3025[b]; Edenwald Contr. Co. v. City of New York, 60 N.Y.2d 957; Dal Youn Chung v. Farberov, 285 A.D.2d 524). Here, however, the plaintiffs' proposed fourth cause of action, alleging violations of the Federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act ( 18 U.S.C. § 1962), was not adequately pleaded and is plainly lacking in merit (see Curran v. Auto Lab Serv. Ctr., 280 A.D.2d 636; 136 E. 56th St. Owners v. Darnet Realty Assocs., 248 A.D.2d 327, 328; Schuler v. Bd. of Educ. of the Cent. Islip Union Free School Dist., 2000 WL 134346 [EDNY, Feb. 1, 2000]; United States v. Private Sanitation Industry Assn. of Nassau/Suffolk, Inc., 793 F. Supp. 1114, 1129).
The appellants' remaining contentions are without merit.
RITTER, J.P., KRAUSMAN, McGINITY and LUCIANO, JJ., concur.