On September 16, 2025, Justice Cohen of the New York County Commercial Division issued a decision in AI Intl. Holdings (BVI) Ltd. v. TWC Borrower 2016, LLC, 2025 NY Slip Op. 33499(U), holding that a signed stipulation of discontinuance ended the claims against a defendant, preventing him from asserting third-party claims, even though the stipulation had not been submitted to the court, explaining:
CPLR 1007 permits a defendant to implead, by means of a third-party action, a person not a party who is or may be liable to that defendant for all or part of the plaintiff’s claim against that defendant. The liability sought to be imposed upon a third-party defendant must arise from or be conditioned upon the liability asserted against the third-party plaintiff in the main action. Accordingly, where the claims against the putative third-party plaintiff have been resolved or dismissed, that party can no longer pursue a third-party action under CPLR 1007.
Here, Plaintiff’s claim against Weinstein was resolved by a jointly executed stipulation of dismissal. The fact that Plaintiff and Weinstein agreed temporarily not to file the stipulation (for transparently tactical reasons) is of no moment. CPLR 2104 provides that an agreement between parties or their attorneys relating to any matter in an action, other than one made between counsel in open court, is not binding upon a party unless it is in a writing subscribed by him or his attorney or reduced to the form of an order and entered. Here, the stipulation of dismissal was signed by the parties and communicated to the Court on the public record. The statute does not require a formal court filing of the stipulation for the resolution of the claims against Weinstein to be effective. Plaintiff’s unequivocal communication to the Court that there was a signed stipulation of dismissal, along with its representation that it had determined not to pursue its claim against Weinstein, eliminated any genuine live controversy between Plaintiff and Weinstein. That controversy cannot be resuscitated through the guise of a third-party claim filed well after the stipulation of dismissal had been executed.
In these circumstances, the Court finds that Weinstein lacks standing to bring his third- party claim against Reiter under CPLR 1007, and it must therefore be dismissed.
(Internal quotations and citations omitted).