Judge Arthur Spatt
The parties’ sister Anne was partly compensated with Sysco stock in the 1960s and early 1970s. Becoming a nun in 1973, she transferred the shares to plaintiff sister Marian and defendant brother Frank as joint tenants. In 2012, Frank purportedly refused his sisters’ request to remove his name from the Sysco account, valued at more than $1.48 million. A letter from Annenow known as Sister Pia Mariecorroborated Marian’s claim that she intended the value of the stock to belong solely to Marian, but placed Frank’s name on the account solely to aid Marianwho was caring for their youngest, disabled siblingin the event Marian needed to sell some of the Sysco stock. Rejecting Frank’s assertion that her claims were untimely as accruing in 1973, the court held Marian’s unjust enrichment claim timely. Frank’s retention of the stock did not become unlawful until October 2012. However, the court dismissed Marian’s claims seeking reformation and declaratory judgment that she was the Sysco stocks’ sole owner. Her declaratory judgment claim duplicated her unjust enrichment claim. Success on that claim would require the court to find Marian the stock’s sole owner so that Frank is being unjustly enriched by his unrelenting joint tenancy.
