On April 13, 2023, Justice Masley of the New York County Commercial Division issued a decision in Lebedev v. Blavatnik, 2023 NY Slip Op. 31183(U), holding that a plaintiff did not waive the right to a jury by seeking an accounting, explaining:
Defendants argue that because Lebedev seeks equitable relief in the form of an accounting, his demand for a jury trial should be stricken. Lebedev concedes that the amended complaint seeks an accounting but contends that he has the right to a jury trial because the essence of his claim is legal in nature as he seeks to recover monetary damages approximating $2 billion.
The deliberate joinder of claims for legal and equitable relief arising out of the same transaction amounts to a waiver of the right to demand a jury trial.. However, where a plaintiff alleges facts upon which monetary damages alone will afford full relief, inclusion of a demand for equitable relief in the complaint’s prayer for relief will not constitute a waiver of the right to a jury trial.
The mere fact that the complaint demands a money judgment only is not dispositive but that it is the facts pleaded which are controlling in determining whether the relief was improperly confined to a money demand merely.
Therefore, the inclusion of an accounting in a breach of contract claim does not amount to waiver, or deprivation, of a jury trial where the substance of the action involves contract issues and the accounting is merely incidental to the contract action. Such is the case here. The focus of the amended complaint is clearly centered around the allegations of the breach of the parties’ 2001 IA and recovery of his allegedly owed 15% share, approximating $2 billion, following the sale of the business. Moreover, it appears from the amended complaint that the accounting is being demanded as a result of alleged commingling of dividend payments from OGIP, as well as multiple entities, with similar corporate names, being involved. Based on these allegations, the claim for an accounting is merely a method to determine the amount of the monetary damages. Thus, the overall character and
(Internal quotations and citations omitted).
substance of the action is primarily legal and the court denies defendants’ motion to strike the jury trial demand.