LJN Newsletters

Parties to commercial leases often have opportunities to exercise rights that they have bargained for in the lease negotiation process. Those rights may be held by both the landlord or the tenant and may relate to the termination of the lease, the renewal or extension of the lease term, the right to expand or contract the premises, the right to reduce rent, the right to relocate the tenant to other premises or whatever the needs and creativity of the parties may have caused them to negotiate. Typically, these rights are important to the operation of the business of the landlord or the tenant, and the lease document requires that a right be exercised by giving notice in a certain manner and by a certain date. If the notice is not timely and properly given, the right may be lost.

Aside from payroll, real estate costs are a large law firm's most significant expense. Even under the best circumstances, such expenditures — sometimes called occupancy costs — consume 8% to 10% of the typical large firm's annual revenue. These costs are not confined to rent; many firms finance millions of dollars worth of expenses associated with the construction of their space.

All the cases discussed in this issue.

The latest cases you need to know.

The federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) threatens to have a significant impact on local zoning decisions. Municipalities across the country have challenged the statute's constitutionality. In the most recent of those cases, Westchester Day School v. Village of Mamaroneck, 2004 US App LEXIS 20327 (NYLJ, 10/15/2004, p. 18, col. 1), the Second Circuit declined to address the constitutional issues directly, but suggested a narrow construction of the statute that would reduce RLUIPA's impact on local zoning policies.

A review of the latest cases.

The latest cases for your review.

On Sept. 20, a Brooklyn jury found a court officer guilty of accepting bribes to steer cases to Brooklyn Matrimonial Justice Gerald P. Garson's docket, but acquitted the other defendant in the case.