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Quick AnswerOn August 4, 2026, after a trial held July 30, 2026, Justice Richard J. Montelione of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Kings County, voided a December 1, 2008 deed in a case against Laurel Avenue Properties, Inc. The Court found that Petroff Amshen's client was fraudulently induced to sign the deed by being led to believe the company would conduct a short sale, and that she received no consideration for the transfer. It held the deed "was executed under false pretenses and was therefore void ab initio," that no statute of limitations applies to a void deed under Faison v. Lewis, and directed the County Clerk to void and cancel the deed forthwith.
Our client became the owner of a property in Brooklyn in April 2007. On December 1, 2008, she signed a deed transferring it to a company called Laurel Avenue Properties, Inc.
She had no lawyer at that closing. She did not know what a "short sale" was, but that is what she was led to believe the company would do. A short sale is a sale of a property, usually with the lender's approval, for less than what is owed on it. What she actually signed was a deed handing the property to Laurel Avenue Properties. Nobody told her she could cancel the transfer or get a lawyer first. She received nothing in return.
The deed was recorded in January 2009, and for years it sat on the public record in the company's name. In 2018, she sued, claiming the company had fraudulently induced her to sign it.
The case was filed in March 2018 and tried in Supreme Court, Kings County on July 30, 2026, before Justice Richard J. Montelione. Our client was the only witness. Laurel Avenue Properties was barred by an earlier court order from presenting any testimony at trial.
Based on the trial evidence, the Court found that our client "was fraudulently induced to sign the deed conveying her interest by being led to believe" that Laurel Avenue Properties would conduct a short sale. It also found that she was unrepresented, was never told she could cancel or consult a lawyer, and received no consideration for the transfer.
A deed obtained by false pretenses is void and conveys no title. The Court applied that rule and held the deed void from the very beginning. In other words, the deed never transferred anything.
The deed was executed under false pretenses and was therefore void ab initio.Decision and Order After Trial, August 4, 2026
The deed was signed in 2008, and the case reached trial in 2026. That gap did not save it. Relying on the Court of Appeals' decision in Faison v. Lewis, the Court held that there is no statute of limitations for a deed that is void from the start. So the Court ordered the County Clerk to void and cancel the deed, forthwith. The Decision and Order After Trial is dated August 4, 2026, five days after the trial ended.
The Court found she was fraudulently induced to sign and received no consideration.
The record, in order: what she got, how long the law allows, and what the Court held on each point.
New York has long held that a deed obtained by false pretenses is void and conveys no title. The Court cited that rule, as restated by the Second Department in July 2026, and found the deed here was executed under false pretenses: our client signed because she was led to believe a short sale would take place.
A void deed is not just open to challenge; it never had legal effect. That is what "void ab initio" means. It also means no one can claim to be a good-faith purchaser or lender for value through it, because there was never any title to pass.
Most claims have a time limit. But in Faison v. Lewis (2015), the Court of Appeals held that a deed that is void from the start cannot be saved by the passage of time. The Court applied that rule to a deed signed more than 17 years earlier.
The findings that decided this case came from what happened at one closing in 2008: no lawyer, no understanding of the term "short sale," no notice of a right to cancel or to seek counsel, and nothing received in return. Our client was the only witness, and the Court's findings about that closing came from her own testimony.
Our client signed because she was told a short sale was going to happen. If you signed a deed on a promise like that and later found out the property was no longer yours, the years that have passed may not be the obstacle you think.
If something like this happened to you, keep every paper you signed, and write down what you were told while you still remember it. Every case turns on its own evidence, and this one went all the way through trial.
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