Former Simone Healthcare Development executive H. Guy Leibler is suing the company and developer Joseph Simone for $15 million for allegedly holding up a deal to grant him a portion of profits on completed medical buildings.
Simone periodically reaffirmed Leibler’s equity in the projects, according to the complaint filed Jan. 12 in Westchester Supreme Court, “by saying such things as ‘your interests are piling up’ and ‘you’re doing really well for yourself with these developments.'”
But when Leibler tried to collect his share Simone allegedly changed the terms of the deal.
Simone Development Companies spokesman Eric Gerard stated in an email that the company “denies the claims, which are without merit.”
Simone Development Companies, based in the Bronx, hired Leibler as president of its Simone Healthcare affiliate in 2013, according to the complaint, to develop medical facilities in the region. He was employed on a trial basis and paid $500,000 a year.
In early 2016, Leibler, of North Castle, and Simone, of Purchase agreed to a deal. Leibler would be paid $1.5 million a year, according to the complaint, and receive 5% equity on any projects he started and completed while he was employed by Simone Healthcare.
The deal was not put in writing, the complaint states, but was “unmistakably verbally agreed-upon” by both men and reiterated by Simone numerous times over the years.
Simone allegedly shared the details of the agreement with his partners, Michael Contillo and Joseph Deglomini, who are not named as defendants in the complaint.
Leibler says he completed five projects: Boyce Thompson Center, Yonkers, 2017; Mount Sinai Doctors offices in Greenlawn, Suffolk County, 2018; Mount Sinai Health System offices on Central Park Avenue, Hartsdale, 2019; The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore in West Harrison, 2020; and Catholic Health Ambulatory & Urgent Care, Centereach, Suffolk County, 2022.
In December 2021, Leibler says, he expressed concerns that he had not received a salary raise since 2016 and had not received equity distributions.
Later, according to the complaint, he agreed to forego interests in projects completed during his tenure in Pelham, Nyack and Manhattan.
Leibler resigned his position last May, effective Sept.1, the complaint states, and he reminded Simone that the equity deal had to be documented.
Last August, he received a term sheet summarizing the arrangement. Now, according to Leibler, the terms departed from the original deal.
Leibler was not entitled to distributions until the owners received a return of at least 8%, for example, and he could not make new deals with any Simone tenants or prospective tenants for three years in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.
Leibler refused to agree to the terms.
He is accusing Simone and his companies of fraud and unjust enrichment. He is demanding damages “believed to be in excess of $15 million,” or alternatively his share of equity in the projects.
He is represented by Manhattan attorneys Gregory Fleesler and Robert McFarlane.
