On February 18, 2025, the First Department issued a decision in GMF 157 LP v. Inspirit Dev. & Constr., LLC, 2025 NY Slip Op. 00913, holding that a dismissal in favor of a prior pending action was proper even though the actions did not have identical causes of action, explaining:
Supreme Court providently exercised its discretion in dismissing the complaint in the trust action because there was another action pending between the same parties for the same cause of action. It is not necessary for the parties of the causes of action to be identical to invoke CPLR 3211(a)(4). Here, there was substantial identity of the parties in the trust action and the pending action. All three parties to the trust action — GMF, Inspirit Development and Construction, LLC, and Alex R. Chiesi — are or were parties to the pending action. Indeed, GMF and Inspirit remain parties to the pending action and are awaiting trial.
There is also substantial identity of issues. The trust action and the pending action arise out of the same alleged series of wrongs involving the same parties, the same premises, the same project, and the same underlying contract. Many of the allegations in both actions overlap.
(Internal quotations and citations omitted).