Appeal from that part of an order of the Supreme Court (Muller, J.), entered September 18, 2012, which denied defendants’ motion to dismiss the amended complaint.
Plaintiff, a supplier of sand and gravel, commenced this action alleging that it entered into a partnership with defendant Willi Kalvaitis (hereinafter defendant) in 2004, for the purpose of developing a limestone quarry on defendant’s property in the Town of Chazy, Clinton County, and that in 2011, after plaintiff had expended significant efforts and resources developing and managing the quarry business, defendant changed the locks to the property and refused plaintiff further access. The complaint sought dissolution and an accounting of the partnership, the imposition of a constructive trust on the quarry business and property and, in the alternative, recovery in quantum meruit.* As pertinent here, defendants moved to dismiss the amended complaint in its entirety on several grounds {see CPLR 3211 [a] [1], [3], [5], [7]). Supreme Court denied the motion, and defendants appeal.
While this appeal was pending, defendants moved for leave to reargue the order denying their motion to dismiss. In November 2013, Supreme Court granted leave to reargue, determined that it had erred in its prior order by refusing to dismiss the causes
Supreme Court correctly denied the motion to dismiss the cause of action seeking to impose a constructive trust on the business property. This equitable remedy may be imposed “when property has been acquired in such circumstances that the holder of the legal title may not in good conscience retain the beneficial interest” (Sharp v Kosmalski, 40 NY2d 119, 121 [1976] [internal quotation marks, brackets and citation omitted]; see Matter of Jacobs, 93 AD3d 917, 918 [2012]). To prove entitlement to this relief, a plaintiff must establish “a confidential or fiduciary relationship, a promise, a transfer in reliance thereon and unjust enrichment” (Enzien v Enzien, 96 AD3d 1136, 1137 [2012]; see Cinquemani v Lazio, 37 AD3d 882, 882 [2007]). The element of transfer has been interpreted to include the expenditure of effort and resources in reliance upon a promise to share in a property interest (see Moak v Raynor, 28 AD3d 900, 902 [2006]; Henness v Hunt, 272 AD2d 756, 757 [2000]).
Here, the complaint alleges that plaintiff had a confidential or fiduciary relationship with defendant, that defendant made promises that plaintiff and defendant had a partnership and that plaintiff had vested rights and interests in the quarry business and property, that plaintiff relied on these promises and the fiduciary relationship in contributing resources to develop the business, and that defendant breached these promises and would be unjustly enriched in the absence of a constructive trust. Deeming these allegations to be true, construing them liberally, and granting plaintiff the benefit of every favorable inference, as we must (see Delaware County v Leatherstocking Healthcare, LLC, 110 AD3d 1211, 1213 [2013]), we find that the amended complaint adequately states a cause of action for the imposition of a constructive trust (see Vopelak v Tedeschi, 281 AD2d 809, 810 [2001]; Henness v Hunt, 272 AD2d at 756-757; Maynor v Pellegrino, 226 AD2d 883, 884-885 [1996]).
The cause of action in quantum meruit requires a showing of “a plaintiffs performance of services in good faith, acceptance
Lahtinen, J.E, McCarthy and Egan Jr., JJ, concur. Ordered that the appeal from that part of the order denying defendants’ motion to dismiss the first and second causes of action is dismissed, as moot, without costs. Ordered that the part of the order denying defendants’ motion to dismiss the third and fourth causes of action is affirmed, without costs.
*.
Plaintiff amended the complaint as of right to add defendant Barbara Kalvaitis, defendant’s wife and a co-owner of the business.