In Philips Int'l Invs., LLC v. Pektor (117 AD3d 1, 982 N.Y.S.2d 98 [1st Dept 2014]), an investment company, brought suit against joint venturers, the Pektors, who created the partnership defendants as vehicles to appropriate the venture's business opportunity of buying a portfolio of commercial properties from nonparty Liberty Property (id.).

During due diligence, the plaintiff discovered that one of the properties had a critical flaw that made its purchase unviable (id.).

The parties then entered into discussions with Liberty to purchase the remaining properties (id.). The deal with the venture did not go forward (id.).

Subsequently, plaintiff learned that the Pektors had created a series of limited partnerships (the partnership defendants) to act as vehicles to purchase the viable properties from Liberty, cutting the plaintiff out of the transaction (id.).

The Court allowed the unjust enrichment claim to move forward (id.).