Supreme Court Denies Cert in RLUIPA Case
<b><i>Sets Standard that Potentially Relieves Municipalities from Liability for Denying Religious Uses</b></i><p>The broad and somewhat vague definition of religious exercise in The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) has invited much litigation over what constitutes a substantial burden and even what constitutes religious exercise.
Development
Merger Defeats Single and Separate Ownership Claim<br>Failure to Refer to County Planning Board Invalidates Grant of Area Variance<br>Denial of Natural Resources Special Permit Upheld<br>Village Ratifies Extension of Lease to Cell Phone Provider
Real Property Law
Interest on Loan Tolled When Mortgagee Delayed In Filing Request for Judicial Intervention<br>Court Dismisses Tortious Interference Claim By Holder of First Refusal<br>Easement Enforceable Despite City Register's Failure to Index the Easement Against Newly Created Lot
Landlord & Tenant
Liquidated Damages Provision Not an Unenforceable Penalty<br>Occupant Established Succession Right Despite Absence of Sexual or Blood Relationship<br>Rent Stabilization Provision Lost When Tenant Executed Lease In Corporate Name<br>Predecessor Landlord Waived Prohibition on Subleases and Assignments
Preserved Farmland Really Is for Farming
The Appellate Division, Second Department, recently decided <i>Long Island Pine Barrens Society, Inc. v. Suffolk County Legislature,</i> an important case that pitted the interests of farmers and conservationists against a local advocacy group focused on open space and water quality.
Real Property Law
Broker Agreed to Commission Based on Rent for First Five Years of Lease<br>Statements in Earlier Action Did Not Accelerate Mortgage and Trigger Statute of Limitations<br>Death Does Not Extend Foreclosure Limitations Period<br>Neighbor Granted Statutory Licence to Paint Fence<br>Record Did Not Establish Conveyance of Easement<br>Co-Tenant Entitled to Partition
Development
Town Entitled To Injunctive Relief for Violation of Certificate of Occupancy
Landlord & Tenant
Guarantor May Not Interpose Wrongful Eviction Defense<br>Landlord Bound by Renewal Lease Signed After Judgment of Possession<br>Notice of Nonrewnal Sufficient to Withstand Jurisdictional Challenge<br>Incarcerated Son Not Entitled to Succession Rights<br>Occupant Did Not Establish Succession Rights<br>Court Dismisses Tortious Interference Claim By Holder of First Refusal Right
Cooperatives and Condominiums
Triable Issue of Fact About Association Liability for Flooding<br>Unit Owner's Representations Cannot Be Used to Contradict Express Terms of Proprietary Lease
As It Turns Out, <i>Yellowstone</i> Waivers Are Enforceable
Four years ago, we explored whether a commercial tenant could waive its common law right to seek a <i>Yellowstone</i> Injunction. At that time, there was no appellate authority directly on point. This all changed on Jan. 31, 2018, when the Appellate Division, Second Department ruled in <i>159 MP Corp., v Redbridge Bedford, LLC</i> that the “commercial tenants' voluntary and limited waiver of declaratory judgment remedies in their written lease is valid and enforceable, and not violative of New York's public policy …”
