Monthly Archives: January 2020

A Yellowstone Proceeding Cannot Extend the Time to Cure an Incurable Default

Posted on January 31, 2020 | Comments Off on A Yellowstone Proceeding Cannot Extend the Time to Cure an Incurable Default

This was originally published on the SGR Blog.

A Yellowstone proceeding (so-called after a Court of Appeals decision establishing the legal protocol) maintains the status quo so that a commercial tenant, when confronted by a threat of termination of its lease, may protect its investment in the leasehold by obtaining a stay tolling the cure period—and, if an adverse determination on the merits ensues, the tenant may cure the default and avoid a forfeiture.

The proceeding is New York–specific. Our Civil Courts in New York City and District Courts in the rest of the State (where landlord-tenant cases are litigated) do not have jurisdiction to grant equitable relief. So a tenant charged with default (who either controverts the default or needs more time to cure or both), must file a Yellowstone proceeding in Supreme Court (which has equitable jurisdiction) before the cure period ends to avoid termination of the lease.  Supreme Court has the ability to toll the cure period and grant an extention of the time to cure (if the default is sustained).

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Posted in Litigation, New York Law

Loss of a New York City Parking Space Is Not A Laughing Matter: Ask Alec Baldwin

Posted on January 20, 2020 | Comments Off on Loss of a New York City Parking Space Is Not A Laughing Matter: Ask Alec Baldwin

This was originally published on the SGR blog.

Saturday Night Live comedian Alec Baldwin engaged in a shoving match with Wojciech Cieszkowski over a mid-town New York parking space. The result was not a laughing matter. Baldwin was criminally charged and pled guilty to harassment in the second degree.

But that was only the beginning. Cieszkowski sued Baldwin for assault, battery, legal fees and slander per se. In addressing a motion to dismiss the slander claim, the Court took a jurisprudential “deep dive” into the law of defamation, slander ( in general) and slander per se (in particular).

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Posted in Litigation, Litigation, Motor Vehicle Law, New York Law, Personal Injury

Rules Are [Not] Made to Be Broken

Posted on January 13, 2020 | Comments Off on Rules Are [Not] Made to Be Broken

This was originally published on the SGR Blog.

Supreme Court recently addressed a motion to dismiss claims by residential unit owners—who were holders of unsold shares — that the cooperative’s board of directors had impermissibly amended various rules relating the housing of pets, subleasing and move-in charges.

Ironically, the Court issued an extremely and extraordinarily lengthy summary and analysis of the arguments and counter-arguments with respect to the by-laws and proprietary lease, only to find and conclude that the relevant provisions ran unambiguously in favor of the board.

Murray House, a residential cooperative, owns a building at 220 Madison Avenue. The elected Board of Direct was authorized, pursuant to its by-laws, to manage the business and affairs of the cooperative.

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Posted in Co-Ops, Litigation, New York Law, Real Estate

Hotly Contested Upper West Side Coffee Pot Dispute

Posted on January 6, 2020 | Comments Off on Hotly Contested Upper West Side Coffee Pot Dispute

This was originally posted on the SGR Blog.

On August 27, 2015, Theodore Comando went to a  deli on the Upper West Side, owned by C.P. Yang Corp, to purchase a cup of coffee. He walked to the counter and lifted a coffee pot from the coffee burner. While lifting the pot, the bottom of the pot fell out, causing his legs and feet to be scalded with second degree burns.

Countering Comando’s version of the facts, the owner of the store, Keumyul Yang, stated in deposition testimony that he was not present during the incident but was told by his employee, Domingo Ogacion, that two coffee pots were involved, and that Comando was holding the right coffee pot and hit the pot into the left coffee pot, causing a hole in the side of the coffee pot that he was holding. However, when was deposed separately, Ogacion stated that Comando was holding the left coffee pot and the bottom fell out.

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Posted in Litigation, New York Law, Personal Injury