Justice Anil Singh
Fernandez moved for dismissal of claims against her for conversion, unjust enrichment and false arrest, arguing she did not directly participate in a fraudulent scheme by codefendants to convince Candice Lalicata to withdraw large sums of money from her trust fund. The corpus of a trust became available to Candice upon her turning 35 years old. She married Steven Lalicata, and it was alleged Steven, his cousin, Hart, and best friend Martinez, concocted a plan to steal large amounts of money from Candice. Candice alleged Hart and Martinez made her believe Steven owed large gambling debts to organized crime members, convincing her Steven would be physically harmed if she did not make large amounts of cash available to him on short notice. In realty, Steven was having an affair with Fernandez and used money withdrawn from Candice’s trust to support Fernandez. The complaint alleged Fernandez made a complaint to police resulting in Candice’s arrest for aggravated harassment based on Fernandez’s false accusations. The court found the facts alleged in the complaint against Fernandez were clearly sufficient at this early junction to state all of the necessary elements of claims sounding in conversion, unjust enrichment and false arrest, denying dismissal.