In Sosnoff v. Carter, 165 AD2d 486, 491, 568 N.Y.S.2d 43 (1st Dept 1991) the defendant real estate developer, Jason Carter, entered into a partnership agreement with the plaintiff investor, Martin Sosnoff, to build a residential project in Manhattan. When the market crashed in 1987, Sosnoff allegedly repudiated his contract obligations and forced Carter to agree to new terms. Those terms included converting the Sosnoff's equity investment into a debt and giving him a note. In addition, Carter and his wife signed personal guarantees. Sosnoff's wife commenced the action by moving for summary judgment in lieu of complaint, as assignee of the note and guarantees, when Carter stopped making payments on the note. The First Department affirmed the trial court's denial of summary judgment, finding that an issue of fact existed on the duress defense. Carter's wife does not appear to have been a party to Carter's original agreement with Sosnoff. While the Court did not specifically analyze the claim of duress as asserted by Carter's wife, the Court's denial of summary judgment to Sosnoff hinged upon the fact that the Carter family was faced with "financial ruin" (id. at 487) and "certain financial disaster," including a mortgage of the "family residence, in order to keep the real estate project alive" (id. at 490).