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Lawyer's Signs on Buildings Owned By Corporation Violate Administrative Code
Matter of Franklin Street Realty Corp. v. NYC Environmental Control Board NYLJ 12/18/2019, p. 25, col. 1 Court of Appeals (Opinion by Wilson, J.)
Four corporations in which a lawyer holds an ownership interest appealed from the Appellate Division's confirmation of a determination imposing fines on the corporation for violating New York City's outdoor advertising sign regulations. The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that when the corporations posted signs advertising the lawyer's business, they were making signs "available to others" within the meaning of the city's Administrative Code.
Lawyer Ciafone has an ownership interest in four corporations which, collectively, own five small residential or mixed-use buildings in Brooklyn and Queens. Affixed to each of the five buildings is signage advertising Ciafone's law practice. The Department of Buildings cited the corporations for violations of the city's Zoning Resolution and Administrative Code. The Department enhanced the fines on the ground that the corporations were outdoor advertising companies within the meaning of the administrative code. The corporations appealed the fines and the hearing examiners dismissed most of the violations, but the Environmental Control Board disagreed, concluding that the corporations were making advertising space available to "others." Ciafone brought an article 78 proceeding challenging the determination, but a divided Appellate Division affirmed. Ciafone appealed.
In affirming, the Court of Appeals focused on the code's definition of outdoor advertising business: [t]he business of selling, leasing, marketing, managing, or otherwise either directly or indirectly making space on signs situated on buildings and premises within the city of New York available to others for advertising purposes …." The Code held that the corporations were entities distinct from Ciafone, even though Ciafone had an ownership interest in each corporation. As a result, Ciafone and his law practice were "others" within the meaning of the Code provision.
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