On January 2, 2024, Justice Reed of the New York County Commercial Division issued a decision in Fritala LLC v. Continental Gen. Ins. Co., 2024 NY Slip Op. 30052(U), rejecting a duress claim based on a threat to enforce a contractual remedy, explaining:
Plaintiff alleges that defendant improperly applied economic duress to force their acceptance of the subsequent agreements. However, the court notes that the subsequent agreements were made due to plaintiff’s breach and only served to help plaintiff avoid breach. A claim for economic duress requires plaintiff to plead that defendant made a wrongful threat precluding plaintiff’s free will. Financial pressures and a lack of equal bargaining power are insufficient to constitute economic duress. Plaintiff offers only the scantest of allegations, claiming defendant made demands beyond its legal rights, but fails to state what those demands were. Seeking enforcement of a contractual remedy itself certainly does not rise to the level of duress.
(Internal quotations and citations omitted).