On October 26, 2021, Justice Cohen of the New York County Commercial Division issued a decision in Xiaoyan Lu v. Sagewood SFF III LLC, 2021 NY Slip Op. 32285(U), holding that allegations made upon information and belief are sufficient when the facts are peculiarly within the defendant’s knowledge, explaining:
[T]he fact that Plaintiffs allegation as to the dissolution of Fund III is on information and belief’ in not fatal to their claims because the complaint supplies sufficient information to apprise defendants of their alleged wrongs, and the information concerns facts peculiarly within defendants’ knowledge. An allegation made upon information and belief warrants dismissal only where a heightened standard of pleading governs, as in cases involving fraud which require the plaintiffs to establish defendant’s state of mind.
(Internal quotations and citations omitted).