Oliker

Jacob Oliker appeals and Alex Gershunoff and Lawrence Silk cross-appeal from a $2.2 million dollar judgment awarded Oliker following a court trial held in regard to the dissolution of a real estate syndication partnership.

I.

The Facts

In 1964, Gershunoff and Silk, licensed real estate brokers, formed a partnership to engage in syndication and management of apartment houses. Oliker, an attorney specializing in the field of real estate, became legal counsel for the Gershunoff-Silk partnership known as the Alex Company.

In 1969, Oliker suggested to Gershunoff and Silk that he join them in their partnership. They agreed. In June 1969, the three entered into an oral partnership agreement under which each became an equal one-third partner in a new general partnership, which continued to be known as the Alex Company. Oliker, Gershunoff and Silk also became one-third shareholders in Preferred Investment Corporation (PIC), a corporate entity that the earlier Gershunoff-Silk partnership had set up, on the advice of Oliker, to facilitate the real estate syndication. For convenience, the various entities that made up the new partnership have been and will be referred to as the…