Adam Leitman Bailey and John Desiderio look at the short and long-term legal implications and issues affecting residential living during COVID-19 pandemic. By Adam Leitman Bailey and John M. Desiderio | June 09, 2020 The COVID-19 pandemic has confronted building owners, managers and boards of New York City rental, condominium, and cooperative-owned buildings with operational challenges that few, Full Article…
About John Desiderio
John M. Desiderio, Partner and Chair of the Real Estate Litigation Practice Group, has been a practicing attorney in New York City for over forty years. His practice is concentrated in cooperative/condominium representation, real estate litigation, title litigation, mortgage foreclosures, and counseling in antitrust and trade regulation matters.
John M. Desiderio is rated by Martindale-Hubbell as “AV Preeminent” signifying the “Highest Possible Rating in Both Legal Ability and Ethical Standards.” Mr. Desiderio has been rated “AV Preeminent” by Martindale-Hubbell for over 30 years and has been named a Super Lawyer in the New York Metro Area.
Mr. Desiderio received his A.B. degree from Fordham University in 1963, an LL.B. degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1966, and an LL.M. degree from New York University School of Law in 1969. He served as a Captain in U.S. Army Intelligence from 1966 to 1968.
From 1969 to 1980, Mr. Desiderio was an Assistant New York State Attorney General under Attorneys General Louis Lefkowitz and Robert Abrams, and from 1972 to 1980 he served as Chief of the Attorney General’s Anti-Monopolies (now Antitrust) Bureau. He entered private practice in 1981 and represented clients in antitrust, Civil Rico, real estate, and general civil litigation. From 1989 to February 1999, he was a member of a prestigious litigation firm.
He has extensive experience in conducting and defending depositions and in conducting trials and arguing appeals in both New York State and federal courts.
Mr. Desiderio has extensive litigation experience in representing both landlords and tenants in commercial and residential real estate litigation. His cases in this area have involved issues relating to ownership of title to property, the right to enforce contracts of sale, landlord obligations to furnish habitable dwellings, tenant obligations to meet conditions of their tenancy, and the applicability of common law and statutory warranties to newly constructed or converted condominium and cooperative apartments. Mr. Desiderio also leads the firm’s American with Disabilities Act defense practice.
Adverse Possession and Tenancies in Common
Adam Leitman Bailey and John M. Desiderio*, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C., New York, NY The law of adverse possession is deeply rooted in the common law and its elements are generally well-known to practitioners. However, adverse possession rules, as applied to tenancies in common, are less often encountered by practitioners, and the statutory language itself Full Article…
Preparing Practitioners for the Next Disasters
By Adam Leitman Bailey, Dov Treiman and John Desiderio This article gives practical advice to lawyers to help their business clients and building owner clients best prepare for the effects of catastrophic disasters, natural and man-made. Introduction In the United States of America, the number of natural disasters has gradually increased. Most of the costliest Full Article…
Q&A: Unexplained Repair Fees
Q. My sister lived in Co-Op City in the Bronx. She passed away in July 2017, and I became voluntary executor of her estate. She kept this apartment spotless, and did not make any changes, except adding a light shine-coat to the living room floor. When the inspector went to check apartment and we did the Full Article…
Rules Governing Anticipatory Repudiation of Contracts
By John Desiderio June 11, 2019 In the practice of real estate law today, very few legal issues are getting as much attention and at the same time being applied incorrectly by practitioners as anticipatory repudiation (or breach) of contract. In this article, John Desiderio discusses the rules of anticipatory repudiation and attempts to discard Full Article…
The New World of Prescriptive Easement Cases
By Adam Leitman Bailey and John M. Desiderio April 10, 2018 In their Land Use column, Adam Leitman Bailey and John M. Desiderio discuss how New York appellate courts determine whether or not a party is entitled to claim a prescriptive easement over another party’s land, and review a number of recent cases and claims. These Full Article…
Negotiating RPAPL §881 License Agreements
By Adam Leitman Bailey, John M. Desiderio, and Joanna Peck Feb 20, 2018 Adam Leitman Bailey, John Desiderio, and Joanna Peck discuss practical considerations for parties to consider when negotiating RPAPL §881 licensing agreements, noting that although §881 was once described as a “little-used law” it is now required reading for all attorneys with developer Full Article…
When Can Condo and Co-op Boards Fine the Owners and Residents?
January 30, 2018 By Adam Leitman Bailey and John M. Desiderio Adam Leitman Bailey and John M. Desiderio review the authority given to boards of condominiums and cooperative corporations to impost and enforce respectively on condo unit owners and cooperative shareholder-tenants who violate building house rules. This article will review the authority given to boards Full Article…