Judge Edgardo Ramos
Wealthy investor Toll was Tannenbaum's father-in-law from 1997 to 2010. During that time the two entered into numerous business agreements including investment fund Fifth Street Finance, which went public in a 2008 stock offering. Toll was a Fifth Street Finance shareholder and also a director until February 2009. Toll's strong objections to Fifth Street's July 2009 second stock offering (Offering) went unheeded. Fifth Street forbade Toll's sale of his shares, claiming he held material, private information about the Offering. The court dismissed Fifth Street's lawsuit accusing Toll of tortiously interfering with its prospective business dealings with Bank of America (BOA), an Offering underwriter. Although BOA withdrew as underwriter only three days before the Offering, Fifth Street retained UBS to provide funding. Fifth Street inadequately pleaded a tortious interference claim on the basis of either improper means, in the form of misrepresentations, or on the basis of extreme economic pressure. Fifth Street's complaint was "bereft" of any statement, much less a misstatement, that Toll is alleged to have made to BOA. Further, Fifth Street's general and conclusory allegations of economic pressure were inadequate to withstand dismissal.
