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Decided on November 24, 2006
Supreme Court, New York County

603791/04

For Plaintiffs:
Proskauer Rose LLP
1585 Broadway
New York, New York 10036
(Tom Stein)
For Defendants:

Porzio, Bromberg & Newman, P.C.
156 West 56th Street, Suite 803
New York, New York 10019
(Joseph Maddaloni, Jr., Michael Rowan)
Bernard J. Fried, J.
Motion Sequence Numbers 005 and 006 are consolidated for disposition and are disposed [*2]of in accordance with the following decision and order.
Plaintiffs Fred Lattanzio and Michael Ambrose move for summary judgment on their breach of contract claims against defendant Nicholas Lattanzio, in the principal amount of $500,000.00, plus interest from April 29, 2004, the date of the breach. Defendants Nicholas Lattanzio and Live Oak Capital, LLC (Live Oak) cross-move for summary judgment, dismissing the breach of contract claims as well as the third (fraud), eighth (failure to honor demand note) and tenth (fraud) causes of action against them. These defendants also move for leave to further amend the Amended Answer, pursuant to CPLR 3025 (b).
In this action, plaintiffs essentially are seeking to recover an amount due on a short-term loan made by plaintiff Michael Ambrose, through his investment manager, plaintiff Fred Lattanzio (Fred), that was obtained by defendant Nicholas Lattanzio (Nicholas), and was used to purchase Meredith Financial Group, a registered investment advisor and broker/dealer. The parties agree that the loan was in the principal amount of $500,000, with 20% interest in an amount no less than $100,000, which was to be repaid in 30 days. According to plaintiffs, Nicholas agreed to be responsible for repaying this money, but has not done so, in breach of their oral agreement. Defendants Nicholas and Live Oak contend that the loan was made to defendant Sherman & Peabody, Inc. to enable it to buy Meredith, and not to either Nicholas or Live Oak, and, thus, there is no breach by them.
Both plaintiffs Ambrose and Fred live in Massachusetts, and Fred is Ambrose's money manager (Affidavit of Michael Ambrose, dated June 16, 2006,

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