By Adam Leitman Bailey and Dov Treiman Currently before the State Legislature are two bills, each jointly introduced in both houses, that would inject the state in the business of title insurance, damaging New York’s standing as the capital of real estate transactions. One would broaden the power of the State Insurance Fund to provide Full Article…
State High Court Decision Exorcises Ghosts of Liens Past
By Adam Leitman Bailey and Dov Treiman Secured borrowing and the transfer of money are the bedrock of the global financial system. However, that system finds itself in crisis. Before the current malaise can end, the system must rebuild in a manner that ensures mutual trust between lenders and borrowers. Rapid repair of the economy Full Article…
Title Litigation: Expense of Theft Prevention Dwarfed by the Cost of Fraud
By Adam Leitman Bailey At the start of this new millennium, the most effective means to rob a bank no longer includes the use of a gun. The real estate closing table has replaced the gun and mask as the most favored and effective tool of theft from financial institutions. As the New York Times Full Article…
The Warranty of Habitability: An Unexpected Hazard in Home Mortgage Foreclosure
By Adam Leitman Bailey and Dov Treiman Most attorneys and nearly all educated tenants in this State are aware of the existence of the warranty of habitability. Few may know that it is statutory in basis, fewer care that it contradicts the common law, but most would be surprised by the types of occupancy to Full Article…
Whatever Happened to Article 78?
By Adam Leitman Bailey, Dov Treiman CPLR Article 78 gathers together the old writs used by the common law courts to review the work of administrative agencies. Section 7803 of that article limits the questions that can be raised in such proceedings to whether the agency failed to perform its duty, acted in excess of Full Article…
Calls for State Insurance Threaten Property Transfers
BY ADAM LEITMAN BAILEY AND DOV TREIMAN Currently before the State Legislature are two bills, each jointly introduced in both houses, that would inject the state in the business of title insurance, damaging New York’s standing as the capital of real estate transactions. One would broaden the power of the State Insurance Fund to provide Full Article…
Commercial Property Landlords May Entirely Eliminate Leasing
By Adam Leitman Bailey and John M. Desiderio Commercial landlords need relief. They are, and have been increasingly, frustrated by the procedural and substantive moves that determine (more often than not) the scope and duration of an eviction action in landlord-tenant litigation. A knowledgeable commercial tenant’s attorney, without any great effort, will readily employ defensive tactics Full Article…
Recording: The Boundaries of the Whole World
By Adam Leitman Bailey, Dov Treiman and Jackie Halpern Weinstein Basic to any lawyer’s understanding of the recording statutes,1 is the concept that the proper recording of an instrument in recordable form places “the whole world” on notice of the interest claimed in the recorded instrument.2 In a July 2011 Supreme Court decision from Brooklyn, Full Article…