Eminent Domain Law
February 01, 2023
Claimant Not Entitled to Consequential Damages of Lack of Access
Scrutiny of Eminent Domain Power
February 01, 2023
How closely will courts scrutinize exercises of the eminent domain power? Until recently, courts have been quite deferential when entities clothed with eminent domain power have determined that private property is necessary for public use. Two recent decisions, however, suggest that there are limits to that deference.
Court Declines to Block Retroactive Application of HSTPA
January 01, 2023
The Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act amended the Rent Stabilization Law and, among other draconian changes, severely curtailed landlords' incentives to modernize and otherwise improve rent regulated apartments by limiting the ability to recover the costs of individual apartment improvements (IAIs) to vacant apartments.
Landlord & Tenant Law
January 01, 2023
Rent Obligations of Successor Tenant to Rent-Controlled Apartment Commences At Prior Tenant's Death
Landlord Not Entitled to Attorneys' Fees Incurred In Defending Unsuccessful Class Action
Real Property Law
January 01, 2023
Administrator's Deed Divested Distributees of Ownership Interest
No Rescission of Deed When Mistake Was Not Mutual
Restrictive Covenant Did Not Bar Educational Use
Issues of Fact About Mortgagee's Knowledge of Fraud Precludes Summary Judgment
No Private Right of Action to Enforce Food Cart Regulations
Mass. Appeals Court: Accelerating Rent As Liquidated Damages Unenforceable
January 01, 2023
The Massachusetts Appeals Court recently reversed a judgment in favor of a landlord in a tenant default matter, finding that a provision of a commercial lease that accelerated the remaining rent as liquidated damages is unenforceable as a penalty. The opinion "brings uncertainty to thousands of existing commercial lease agreements."
Co-ops and Condominiums
January 01, 2023
Absence of Itemized Statement Did Not Justify Cancellation of Co-Op Corporation's Liens
Jury Trial Waiver Enforced
Statute of Frauds Prevents Enforcement of Gift of Co-Op Shares
Mitchell-Lama Occupant Successor Occupant Entitled to Injunction Tolling Exclusive Purchaser Period
Landlord & Tenant Law
December 01, 2022
Landlord's Re-Entry Not Authorized By Lease Provision
Plans to Demolish Building Supported Denial of Renewal Lease
Guarantor Entitled to Raise Questions of Fact About Entitlement to Rent Abatements
RLUIPA Ripeness
December 01, 2022
In Rabbi Israel Meyer Hacochen Rabbinical Seminary of America v. Town of Putnam Valley, a federal district court in the Southern District of New York dismissed a RLUIPA claim as unripe, borrowing ripeness doctrine from the takings context and declining to apply a "futility exception" to the requirement that a landowner obtain a final decision before proceeding to federal court.
