On September 29, 2026, the First Department issued a decision in Murphy v. PHG Funding LLC, 2026 NY Slip Op 05482, holding that a fraud claim failed because, among other things, of the failure adequately to allege justifiable reliance on the alleged misrepresentations, explaining:
Turning to the fraud claims, defendants have not identified any misrepresentation of fact by Murphy or Nigro, individually or on behalf of PARS, nor any justifiable reliance by defendants on any fact that they could not have discovered with diligence to support a claim for fraud. The amended pleadings also fail to state that defendants took any action or refrained from acting as a result of their purported reliance on any purported misstatement leading to an injury. Additionally, the proposed fraud claims are duplicative of the contract claims.
(Internal citations omitted).