The First Department reinstated class claims alleging fixed reletting and lease-break fees unlawfully circumvent New York landlords’ nonwaivable duty to mitigate damages.
The First Department held that estate co-executors plausibly alleged an attorney-client relationship and damages from tax advice despite an engagement letter signed for the property-owning LLC.
The First Department held that contractual substance—including a 60-day termination right and transfer ban—supported treating health-care occupants as licensees rather than tenants.
The First Department held that a lender employee’s detailed testimony about an agent’s mailing system and incorporated records established compliance with RPAPL 1304.
The First Department upheld a $1.2 million verdict, including lost profits, where a landlord failed to clear violations and diligently assist a preschool tenant with its fire-alarm approvals.
The First Department upheld rent stabilization where registrations conflicted with leases and the owner could not document apartment-specific improvements supporting deregulation.
The First Department held a 2019 foreclosure time-barred because a legally defective 2008 action still accelerated the debt and CPLR savings provisions did not apply.
The First Department reinstated conversion and related claims because a disputed RP-5217 transfer report created factual questions about ownership and entitlement to sale proceeds.
The First Department held that internally inconsistent surrender provisions in retail lease guaranties had to be construed against the landlord-drafter, ending guarantor liability when the tenant vacated.
The First Department held that a tenant’s nominal five-year extension did not cure a commercial mortgage cash sweep because an at-will termination option could end the lease after 13 months.
The First Department reinstated direct claims against condominium board members accused of personally directing an animus-driven retaliation campaign.
The First Department held that possible negligence by a property owner’s managing agents prevented summary judgment on contractual indemnification under General Obligations Law § 5-322.1.
The First Department held that Lien Law § 19(6) permits summary discharge only for defects visible on the lien’s face, not fact disputes over owner consent.
The First Department held that drilling two holes to run Wi-Fi cable did not significantly change a building and therefore fell outside Labor Law § 240(1).
The First Department held that a defective permanent staircase was a Labor Law § 240(1) safety device where no viable alternative route reached the work area.
The First Department held that a $3.6 million liquidated-damages cap applied to delay damages, not all direct damages in a Times Square construction pass-through claim.
The First Department vacated a $301.25 million Manhattan land valuation because the neutral umpire’s outside-employment discussions and later procedural rulings created prejudicial partiality.
The First Department held that a title agent’s guarantor lacked a common-law indemnity claim against a recording vendor that owed him no separate duty.
The First Department remitted a rent-overcharge case so the trial court can apply the revised common-law and statutory fraudulent-deregulation standards together.
The First Department upheld DHCR’s use of Operational Bulletin 95-2 and its rejection of conclusory proof for a claimed 1980s substantial-rehabilitation exemption.
The First Department held that conflicting expert opinions over the governing Building Code prevented an out-of-possession owner and manager from defeating a worker’s concealed-hole claim.
The First Department imposed liability for eight apartments knowingly deregulated after Roberts and ordered a fraud trial over 23 pre-Roberts deregulations.
The First Department remands a commercial lease arbitration award back to the arbitrators where the panel determined liability for unpaid rent but left open the effect of the tenant’s surrender, whether future rent obligations survived lease termination, and how interest and post-award obligations should be calculated.
The First Department affirms mortgage lien priority over a condominium common charge lien, holding that Real Property Law § 339-z’s exception for ‘non-residential’ condominiums does not apply to mixed-use buildings with any residential component—regardless of how ‘commercial’ the building appears.