On August 11, 2023, the Fourth Department issued a decision in Hausrath Landscape Maintenance, Inc. v. Caravan Facilities Mgt., LLC, 2023 NY Slip Op. 04289, holding that a defendant was liable for providing an untimely notice of contract termination, explaining:
A written agreement that is complete, clear and unambiguous on its face must be enforced according to the plain meaning of its terms. In order to terminate the agreement for convenience, the plain language of the agreement required defendant to send notice for the same to plaintiff by registered mail, return receipt requested, at any time, with minimum 30 days prior written notice. The termination for convenience provision also stated that such termination for convenience shall not give rise to any damages of any kind whatsoever. It is undisputed that plaintiff received actual notice of defendant’s intent to terminate the agreement via email on September 28, 2018 and that the notice stated that termination would be effective October 1, 2018.
The termination for convenience provision would not have given rise to damages if it had been effected with proper notice. Defendant, however, failed to provide the requisite 30 days’ prior written notice of termination and instead provided 2 days’ prior written notice. We conclude that defendant provided notice of termination as of September 28, 2018 even though that notice was not sent by registered mail with return receipt requested. As a result, the effective date of termination was October 28, 2018, not October 1, 2018, and plaintiff is entitled to damages under the agreement accruing prior to the effective date.
(Internal quotations and citations omitted).