In The Board of Managers of 266 West 115th Street Condominium v. 266 West 115th Street, LLC, et al., Index No. 159552/2014 [Sup Court, NY County 2013], a precedent-setting decision, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. obtained a victory that could benefit Condominiums throughout Manhattan. The following two critical issues were presented in this case: (i) whether Full Article…
Construing the HETPA Foreclosure Procedures, New York Law Journal
By Adam Leitman Bailey and Dov Treiman June 8th, 2011 As governments continue to wage war in the form of legislation against lending institutions, we move one step closer to economic chaos and the collapse of marketable title. When business cannot rely on government and courts to enforce contracts and provide for the smooth transfer Full Article…
Correcting the MERS Errors to Establish a Secure, Profitable National Title System, Real Estate Law & Industry Report
By Adam Leitman Bailey and Dov Treiman October 4th, 2011 In Homer’s Odyssey, the protagonist, Odysseus, is called upon to sail his crew through the Straits of Messina, passing between two legendary monsters, Scylla and Charibdis. To avoid one, the only option was to approach the other, risking a horrible death in either instance. Odysseus Full Article…
Adverse Possession Changes Make Results Less Certain, New York Law Journal
By Adam Leitman Bailey and John Desiderio February 11th, 2009 On July 8, 2008, Governor Paterson signed into law S.7915-C, which amended New York’s adverse possession law, and two centuries of New York adverse possession doctrine came to an end. The new law is intended to prevent an absentee landowner from losing title to his Full Article…
Using the Judicial System to End the Foreclosure Crisis in New York, New York Law Journal
August 8th, 2012 Standard foreclosure proceedings have been put on pause. This article endeavors to provide instruction on how to cure one of the most frequently stumbled upon legal impediments to litigating these actions—the lost note. Many foreclosure actions are sitting stagnant for months, or even years, as a result of not only a reticent Full Article…
‘Miller-Francis’: A Disturbance in the Force, New York Law Journal
By Adam Leitman Bailey and Dov Treiman April 9th, 2014 When the Empire destroyed the planet Alderaan in Star Wars IV, Obi-Wan Kenobi sensed “a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced.” When the Appellate Division, First Department decided Miller-Francis v. Smith-Jackson,1 there Full Article…
Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C., Uses Creative Interpretation of Note and Mortgage in Successful Defense of Title Insurer in Foreclosure Action
Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C.’s Title Insurance Claims Group was recently retained by a title insurance company to defend title to a residential property threatened by a private-party foreclosure action. In 2000, the then owner of a residential property in Queens obtained a loan from his sister in the principal sum of $36,000. The loan was Full Article…
Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. Prevails as Second Circuit Upholds Title of Developer That Acquired Property Sold in H.U.D. Auction
Second Circuit Affirms Ruling Where Foreclosure Is Limited to Bidders to Governmental Entities, Local housing fund development corporations (HFDCs) and Lien holders. The U.S Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the right of a municipal/private development partnership to acquire a low-income apartment complex from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Full Article…