On March 24, 2026, Justice Cohen of the New York County Commercial Division issued a decision in Telco Insights, LLC v. Telco Experts, LLC, 2026 NY Slip Op. 31190(U), holding that if the parties to an agreement select an effective date that predates when the contract is signed, the earlier date is binding, explaining:
Defendant argues that the Sales Agent Agreement was improperly backdated an therefore, was not effective until 2020. However, the contemporaneous email chain between Mr. Goldberg and Mr. Henry makes clear that the parties specifically agreed to make the effective date of the Sales Agent Agreement June 10, 2017 to align with the formation of Mr. Henry’s LLC. The fact that the parties testified that they did not recall years later why they chose a prior date the agreement is immaterial since there is clear contemporaneous evidence of their agreement to do so (Colello v Colello, 9 AD3d 855, 857 [4th Dept 2004] [“It is fundamental that where parties to an agreement expressly provide that a written contract be entered into ‘as of’ an earlier date than that on which it was executed, the agreement is effective retroactively ‘as of’ the earlier date and the parties are bound thereby accordingly”]). Accordingly, the Court concludes that the Sales Agent Agreement is, as the parties agreed, effective as of June 10, 2017.