On March 18, 2025, the First Department issued a decision in Harbinger Capital Partners II, LP v. Apollo Global Mgt., LLC, 2025 NY Slip Op. 01573, holding that equitable estoppel cannot be based on the same misconduct as the claim that was asserted, explaining:
Equitable estoppel does not save plaintiffs’ contract and unjust enrichment claims. Courts have the power to apply the extraordinary remedy of equitable estoppel only where it would be unjust to permit a defendant to assert a statute of limitations defense.
Where the same alleged wrongdoing that underlies plaintiffs’ equitable estoppel argument is also the basis of their tort claims, equitable estoppel will not lie. Plaintiffs contend that defendants are estopped from asserting the statute of limitations because Apollo-controlled MSV made numerous filings with the FCC denying that the GPS Defect posed any problem to its planned ATC Network and Management concealed the test results. However, that is the same wrongdoing that underlies plaintiffs’ tort claims.
Good emphatically reassured plaintiffs that no fraud had occurred. However, a mere denial of wrongdoing is not sufficient to create an estoppel. Finally (on this point), plaintiffs do not argue that CCTV and Singh — as opposed to the Apollo defendants — induced them by fraud to refrain from filing a timely unjust enrichment claim.
(Internal quotations and citations omitted).