Lakshmi Grocery & Gas, Inc. v. GRJH, Inc.

Facts

The plaintiff and third-party defendants entered into a combined lease and contractor agreement with defendant to run a gas station and convenience store in New York. Prior to entering into the contract, third-party defendant, Sharma, requested copies of the store’s inside sales figures and asked to inspect the store’s books. In September 2010, Alicia Metz, the defendant’s president, sent an email to Sharma advising that sales for August 2010 totaled approximately $22,000. The plaintiff and third-party defendants were not allowed to inspect the store’s books prior to signing the agreement and could only visit the store if they posed as a customer. After taking over the store, plaintiff and third-party defendants discovered that the August 2010 sales were actually approximately $15,500. Metz later explained that the sales numbers were “representative sales” based on August 2009 because the completed figures for August 2010 were not available to her at the time of the email.