Suffern Partners LLC, the buyer of the former Novartis pharmaceutical complex in Rockland County, is suing a title insurance company for $57 million for allegedly mishandling the sale.
Old Republic National Title Insurance Co. of Tampa has refused to acknowledge obligations under a title insurance policy, according to the complaint filed Oct. 23 in U.S. District Court, White Plains.
Old Republic did not immediately respond to an email asking for its side of the story.
Brooklyn-based Suffern bought the Novartis complex in 2017 from RS Old Mills Rd LLC, for $30 million. The 167-acre property includes offices, laboratories, a manufacturing area and a warehouse, at 25 Old Mill Road, in Suffern and Montebello.
Suffern says it has paid Old Republic $1.5 million in premiums for a $30 million title insurance policy.
According to the lawsuit, Old Republic”™s escrow agent, Riverside Abstract of Brooklyn, was supposed to collect and distribute funds from the sale and file and record all documents.
But that did not happen, according to a lawsuit RS Old Mills Rd filed against Suffern April 15 in Rockland Supreme Court.
“Despite the passage of nearly three years,” the RS complaint states, Suffern “has never paid ”¦ a single penny of this purchase price.”
Riverside is not named as a defendant in either lawsuit.
RS is demanding $30 million from Suffern and return of the property.
Suffern says the Rockland lawsuit has clouded the title, and now it is unable to lease, refinance or sell the property or get new title insurance.
It struck a deal in March to sell the Novartis complex for $55 million, but without title insurance the property is “non-transferable for all commercial purposes.”
Old Republic has refused to acknowledge its obligation to compensate Suffern for potential losses in the Rockland lawsuit, according to Suffern, or to defend Suffern against RS.
Suffern is demanding more than $2 million in legal fees and $55 million in damages.
Suffern is represented by Hahn & Hessen law firm, Manhattan, and Lipsius-Benhaim Law, Kew Gardens.
