STRICKLAND
v.
HOLIDAY RV SUPERSTORES, INC.
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
The court affirmed the district court's judgment regarding payment priority under New York and English law, and affirmed the denial of attorneys' fees, holding that New York's prohibition on fee shifting applied.
[1] Choice of Law - Contractual provisions specifying governing law are subject to public policy limitations.
[2] Attorney's Fees - New York law prohibits fee shifting unless intent is unmistakably clear.
Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“”
Explaining New York's public policy on attorney fee shifting.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceSerengeti appealed a judgment denying their motion for judgment on the pleadings and granting AGL's motion. AGL cross-appealed the denial of its claim…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Contract Law cases and more on FLexlaw
Serengeti Opportunities MM LP and Serengeti Lycaon MM LP (collectively, “Serengeti”) appeal from a judgment of the District Court (Woods, J.) denying their motion for judgment on the pleadings and granting American General Life Insurance Company’s (“AGL”) motion for judgment on the pleadings. AGL, the prevailing party, cross-appeals from the District Court’s denial of its claim for attorneys’ fees under English law. We assume the parties’ familiarity with the facts and record of the prior proceedings, to which we refer only as necessary to explain our decision to affirm.
After an independent review of the record (including the transaction documents, notes, and offering memorandum), we affirm the District Court’s resolution of the payment priority issue under New York and English law for substantially the reasons stated by the District Court in its memorandum opinion and order of September 30,2016.
As to AGL’s cross-appeal, we discern no error in the District Court’s determination that New York’s prohibition on attorney fee shifting applies in this case rather than the English rule that generally entitles a prevailing party to recover its attorneys’ fees. The Security Agreement includes a choice-of-law provision stating that the Agreement shall be governed by New York law, except for two provisions concerning priority of payments and subordination that are governed by English law. As a matter of public policy, New York prohibits courts from inferring that parties have agreed to attorney fee shifting “unless the intention to do so is unmistakably clear from the language” of the contract. Hooper Assocs., Ltd. v. AGS Computs., Inc., 74 N.Y.2d 487, 492, 549 N.Y.S.2d 865, 548 N.E. 2d 903 (1989), Here, the Security Agreement’s designation of English law to govern two contractual provisions that are unrelated to attorney fee shifting, without more, does not demonstrate with sufficient clarity that the parties intended to permit attorney fee shifting in this case. As a result, New York’s prohibition on attorney fee shifting applies — a prohibition that reflects New York’s “fundamental legislative policy decision that ... it is undesirable to discourage submission of grievances to judicial determination” in New York. Mighty Midgets, Inc. v. Centennial Ins. Co., 47 N.Y.2d 12, 22, 416 N.Y.S.2d 559, 389 N.E. 2d 1080 (1979) (emphasis added). Accordingly, we affirm the District Court’s decision to deny AGL’s claim for attorneys’ fees.
We have considered the parties’ remaining arguments and conclude that they are without merit. For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the District Court is AFFIRMED.