On November 29, 2022, the First Department issued a decision in 885 3rd Ave. Realty Owners LLC v. Alden Global Capital LLC, 2022 NY Slip Op. 06736, upholding a quantum meruit claim based on use and occupancy even though it was not pleaded as a separate cause of action, explaining:
The court properly denied defendant’s motion to dismiss the first and second causes of action on the ground that plaintiff had stated a claim for use and occupancy under a quantum meruit theory, in view of the allegations that defendant had occupied the premises since 2017 and failed to pay rent from April 2020 until it vacated the premises in January 2021. The fact that the complaint did not assert this quasi-contract claim as a separate cause of action is immaterial, as the sole criterion in reviewing a CPLR 3211 (a) (7) motion to dismiss is whether, from the four corners of the pleading, factual allegations are discerned which taken together manifest any cause of action cognizable at law.
(Internal quotations and citations omitted).