Adam Leitman Bailey, Dov Treiman, and Danny Ramrattan discuss the limited applicability of usury defenses. They write: “In all, this area of the law is deceptively simple and the resolution of any case will require a close examination of the intricacies of the particular matter.” New York imposes two separate rates for determining usury, a Full Article…
Permissive Encroachments Under Post-2008 Adverse Possession Law
Adam Leitman Bailey and John Desiderio discuss how New York Courts are interpreting the way in which RPAPL §543 (Adverse possession; how affected by acts across a boundary line), enacted in 2008 as a new addition to RPAPL Article 5 (Adverse Possession), has changed the law of adverse possession from what it was pre-2008. In Full Article…
New Home Construction Issues: 26 Years After ‘Fumarelli’
This article covers developments regarding important questions New York courts have been asked to address, respecting three significant legal issues, affecting the rights and obligations of builder-vendors vis à vis purchaser-vendees of “new home” condominium and co-op residential construction. In this article, the authors, whose first jointly written article on new home construction was published Full Article…
When Is an Attachment Levy Effective?
Trying times call for creative, aggressive lawyering by real estate litigators. Racing to find and attach and garnish a judgment debtor’s assets before they literally disappear is an old sport played, most recently, at a higher level due to the stressful economic real estate times. This article reflects our war wounds and successes with the Full Article…
Awarding Attorney Fees in Access to Property Proceedings
The right to access another’s property codified in RPAPL §881, once described, as recently as 2002, as a “little-used law” (as quoted in Rosma Development, LLC v. South, 5 Misc.3d 1014(A), 798 NYS2d 713 (Sup. Ct., King. Co., 2004) (Schmidt, J.), is now used for lawsuits that arise on a frequent basis, amidst the constantly evolving Full Article…
A Street Fight in the Bronx
ADAM LEITMAN BAILEY’S FIRM HELPED SETTLE A BRONX BRAWL OVER LAND BETWEEN TWO PARTIES AND BROUGHT VICTORY AGAINST A LONG-STANDING POWERFUL FAMILY IN NEW YORK. This matter came to Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. (ALBPC) at the beginning of 2017. The resulting decision issued by the Appellate Division on March 9, 2023—six years later—shows how dogged Full Article…
Dismissal of Mechanic’s Liens
The Court does not have the discretion to dismiss a mechanic’s lien except on the statutory grounds stated in the Lien Law. These are: (1) Section 19(6) – summary discharge if the lien is defective on its face; (2) Section 20 – payment into court of the amount of the lien; (3) Section 37 – Full Article…
What Happens When a Party Wall Spoils the Party?
Many reasons occasioned by the Housing Stability and Tenant Prevention Act disincentivized property owners from improving existing buildings because either (a) they could not greatly increase rents after a rent-regulated tenant vacated a unit, or (b) they could not obtain approved rent increases by improving the major components of a building. The only way to Full Article…