Co-ops and Condominiums
July 01, 2022
Statements By Condo Board Members Cloaked In Common Interest Privilege
Shareholder Entitled to Maintenance Abatement for Breach of Warranty of Habitability
Real Property Law
July 01, 2022
Deference to Trial Court's Determination on Mortgage Priority
No Broker Commission for Sale After Expiration of Tail Period
Co-Owner Who Did Not Execute Mortgage Not Subject to Equitable Lien By Mortgagee
Insufficient Evidence of Delay to Support Laches Defense Against Claim to Set Aside Deed As a Forgery
Statements Did Not Defeat Hostility In Adverse Possession Claim
Do COVID-19 Shutdown Orders Excuse Lease Guarantors?
July 01, 2022
Section 22-1005 of the New York City Administrative Code provides relief for individuals who guaranteed commercial leases when the tenant defaulted as a result of government orders issued during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. In recent months, however, litigation has emerged about the scope of that relief.
Supreme Court Again Addresses Municipal Sign Regulations
June 01, 2022
In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court applied strict scrutiny to a sign regulation as it related to directional signs placed by a local congregation that held services at different locations each week. In April 2022, the Court took another look at the issue of strict scrutiny relating to "off-premises" signs in City of Austin, Texas v. Reagan National Advertising.
Real Property Law
June 01, 2022
Deed from Intestate Distribtees Effective Without Involvement of Estate Administrator
Notice of Pendency Is Not an Election of Remedies That Bars Issuance of Preliminary Injunction
Junior Mortgagee Obtained Good Title Despite Defects In Judgment of Foreclosure
Limitation on Easement Width Upheld
Forged Power of Attorney Voids Documents on Which Mortgagee Relied
Landlord & Tenant Law
June 01, 2022
Habitability and Harassment Claims Survive Motion to Dismiss
COVID-19 Does Not Trigger Frustration of Purpose or Impossibility Defenses
Tenant Entitled to Actual Damages for Landlord Breach, But Not to Suspension Payment
Renovations Qualified Apartment for High-Rent Vacancy Decontrol
COVID-19 Does Not Excuse Failure to Pay Rent
Supreme Court Addresses Municipal Sign Regulations, Again
June 01, 2022
In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court applied strict scrutiny to a sign regulation as it related to directional signs placed by a local congregation that held services at different locations each week. The Court took another look at the issue of strict scrutiny relating to "off-premises" signs in the case of City of Austin, Texas v. Reagan National Advertising , in which the majority concluded that strict scrutiny should not apply to determining whether the off-premises sign regulations at issue violated the First Amendment.
Landlord & Tenant Law Case Update
June 01, 2022
COVID-19 Does Not Trigger Frustration of Purpose or Impossibility Defenses
Tenant Entitled to Actual Damages for Landlord Breach, But Not to Suspension Payment
COVID-19 Does Not Excuse Failure to Pay Rent
Making Sense of the 421-A Rent Concession Appeals
May 01, 2022
Landlords initially renting up new RPTL 421-a buildings routinely give incoming rent-stabilized tenants rent concessions to account for the fact that construction may be ongoing, and that there may still be punch list items in the apartments. This seemingly innocuous practice, however, has led to class-action litigation wherein tenants allege that rent concessions are part of a fraudulent scheme that results in massive building-wide overcharges under the Rent Stabilization Law.
