On May 6, 2025, the First Department issued a decision in Burden v. Pamplona Capital Mgt. LLP, 2025 NY Slip Op. 02716, holding that fraud damages cannot include lost profits, explaining:
Plaintiffs failed to allege loss causation or any cognizable theory of damages with respect to their fraudulent inducement claims. It is uncontested that plaintiffs received a substantial profit from the transactions. However, their allegation concerning damages is that they should have made more money. New York measures damages as the actual pecuniary loss sustained as a direct result of the wrong, not the greater profit that could have been made but for alleged fraud Plaintiffs’ argument that Logicworks’ value was immediately harmed upon defendants’ acquisition because the Russian oligarchs’ near-complete ownership and full control of defendants subjected Logicworks to various risks is also belied by their allegations that Logicworks continued to thrive for years after the 2016 sale.
(Internal citations omitted).