INDUSTRIAL DEV. BANK OF ISRAEL LTD. v. BIER

The IAS court properly granted plaintiff's summary judgment motion on the issue of defendants' liability to plaintiff as guarantors of several loans executed between plaintiff and Flair (Israel) Ltd. in Israel. The defense of usury is unavailable to defendants since Israeli law, which permits interest rates to be linked to foreign currency exchange rates and indexed to the cost of living, is applicable under the doctrine of comity (Conner Gen. Contr. v Rols Capital Co., 145 A.D.2d 452). Furthermore, defendants failed to offer any proof that the judicially-approved sale of Flair's assets by a court-appointed receiver was procured by plaintiff's fraud and was not commercially reasonable (Tamimi v Tamimi, 38 A.D.2d 197).

Concur — Murphy, P.J., Ellerin, Wallach, Asch and Rubin, JJ.