C. Baxter and  Sandra Campos began a romantic relationship in 2006. They divided their time between their respective homes in Connecticut and Manhattan. Possessions were moved between the two houses, including artwork and a Steinway piano, without transfer in title. Campos purchased a 2008 Lexus, which he registered in his name and for which he paid taxes.  Baxter drove the car. Baxter and Campos got engaged in November 2012. They shopped for a ring and Baxter purchased one for Campos. In January 2014, he presented her with the ring (appraised at $24,000). In February 2014, Campos sent Baxter a Valentine’s… Read more

Copyright by, and republished with permission of, Habitat Magazine. Unit-owners at the Newswalk condominium in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn – a repurposed former Daily News printing plant – are no strangers to strife. When the first unit-owners moved in after the 2002 conversion, they were shocked by construction so slipshod that many of the “luxury” apartments were barely habitable. The condo board sued the developer, Shaya Boymelgreen, for $10 million. A decade later, Boymelgreen agreed to pay an $875,000 settlement and hand over ownership of the building’s retail unit and laundry space. The condominium survived and thrived. But strife has returned to… Read more

The Court of Appeals recently released three decisions—relating to carefully and narrowly framed issues under the New City Landmarks Preservation Law; New York State Department of Labor’s Minimum Wage Order; and Article 7 of the New York Real Property Tax Law—that are of particular interest to practitioners in those fields of law.  Of more interest to the Bar generally are the pointed, strident and unusually caustic dissents of Judge Rivera (joined by Judge Wilson) in the Landmarks case; Judge Garcia (joined by Judge Fahey) in the Labor Law action; and Judge Wilson (joined by Judge Rivera) in the Tax Law… Read more

Brian Murphy was cited by the Town of Oyster Bay for shellfishing without a permit. Murphy was fishing in waters around the maritime boundary between Oyster Bay and Long Island Sound, ownership of which was claimed by both the Town and the State. Murphy filed suit against the Town, the State, and others. He sought a judgment declaring that the Town-issued citation was invalid because he was shellfishing in Long Island Sound, for which he had an appropriate permit from the State. The State of New York sued the Town of Oyster Bay for a judgment declaring that the State was… Read more

David Finn and his wife sued Ashlynn Anderson in Jamestown City Court for ownership/custody of a cat.   The Finns moved to Wescott Street in September of 2018. Around that time, they noticed a white cat frequently wandering onto their property looking for food. The cat was quite thin, and had no identification tags. They assumed that the four year old cat was a stray, named him “Sylvester”, and began feeding the cat in the entry-way of their home. The Finns fed Sylvester frequently for several months before bringing him into their house.   The Finns took the cat to a… Read more

Party walls shared by adjoining townhouse are ubiquitous in  Manhattan and, as recent case illustrates, are an invitation to litigation– especially where a sale at an astronomical price is followed by a massive top-to-bottom renovation. Kai and Doris Chang own a townhouse  on East 92nd Street.  A limited liability company (LLC) owns the townhouse next door. The party wall is 40 feet high and was originally one foot thick. The LLC hired Trident Restoration to do extensive renovations on its property, including relocating the bathrooms and kitchen and altering the building’s plumbing. The Changs discovered a hole in the third-floor… Read more

I cannot recall why and when I first started collecting the articles about motorcycle accidents; however, over time, I realized that lawsuits arising from such claims are very common (in retrospect, for obvious reasons, the inherent danger and risk of riding a motorcycle).  The causes raise a broad panoply of issues including proximate cause, helmet design and manufacture; and road and intersection signage and speed limits.  A few recent examples follow: Caro v. Chesnick, 2017 NY Slip Op 07940 (1st Dept., November 14, 2017) Supreme Court granted defendants’ motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint. The First Department briefly described… Read more

Some residential buildings are “pet friendly”—and some are not.  But even where a lease in New York City prohibits household pets, the Administrative Code creates a “safe harbor” for animals when the landlord  fails to start a summary (eviction) proceeding for breach of the lease within three months of learning of the violation. A recent case, with unusual facts, demonstrates that the three month rule may be a bar to an eviction proceeding even where the tenant lies about the material  facts. Westchester Gardens filed a summary proceeding against Pricilla Vargas. The eviction claim was based on Vargas harboring a… Read more

Golf, like any other recreational activity, runs the risk of accidents on the course – and the resulting injuries often lead to “finger pointing” as to which golfer was at fault.  And the game also often raises predictable and unpredictable collateral disputes such as whether a golf club membership is property that can be seized by a judgment creditor; and claims for trespass and nuisance damages when golf balls land on an adjacent property.  Several recent examples follow: MacIsaac v. Nassau County, 2017 NY Slip Op 05814, 2d Dept. July 26, 2017 In an action to recover damages for wrongful… Read more

The mid-2019/2020 term of the New York Court of Appeals did not result in any “blockbuster” civil law decisions. The Court, however, did release two opinions that demonstrate how the panel addresses the application of precedents, on the one hand, and substantive conflicts in the Appellate Divisions, on the other. In the first case, over a stinging dissent, the Court adhered to a 1999 decision holding that a “stairway” may constitute a “sidewalk”  for tort liability purposes.  And in the second, the Court resolved a split in the Departments over whether the filing of suit by a New York attorney who did not… Read more