On April 29, 2025, Justice Jamieson of the Westchester County Commercial Division issued a decision in Allyn v. Wings Air Helicopters, LLC, 2025 NY Slip Op. 50707(U), allowing LLCs to assign their claims to a disbarred lawyer and then allowing the lawyer to pursue the claims pro se, explaining:
Defendant brings its motion seeking to dismiss the complaint in this breach of contract action. The sole basis for the motion is defendant’s assertion that plaintiff is perpetrating a sham upon the Court by assigning the claims of SG Helicopter Holdings, LLC and SG Helicopter Training, LLC (the SG Companies”) to himself so that he can appear pro se on their behalf.
Specifically, defendant argues that the purported assignment to Allyn should be set aside as an unlawful effort to run afoul of Allyn’s disbarment and prohibition on appearing in court for any other LLC, even if he owns the LLC. Defendant asks that the complaint, signed by Allyn as a pro se assignee, should be dismissed without prejudice to the LLCs refiling suit through a licensed attorney admitted to practice in this state.
In support of its motion, the only case that defendant cites is not on point. In that case, although the pro se plaintiff was also a disbarred attorney, that is where the similarities end. The assigned claim in that case could not be assigned without statutory permission under applicable Pennsylvania law, and there was no such statute. Moreover, the terms of that plaintiff’s disbarment are distinguishable. The Court held that Feingold is a disbarred attorney who is prohibited from having any contact with previous clients. As the District Court deduced, Feingold could not have obtained a signed contract from McAteer without having had any contact with her.
Defendant has not cited to any other case on point, and research has not revealed any such cases. Given that it is perfectly legitimate for a corporation to assign its claims to an individual, which is what the SG Companies did here, there appears to be no basis for the motion to dismiss.
(Internal quotations and citations omitted).