Greenbaum v. 244 Madison Realty Corp.

129 Misc. 2d 862
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 12, 1985
StatusPublished

This text of 129 Misc. 2d 862 (Greenbaum v. 244 Madison Realty Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Greenbaum v. 244 Madison Realty Corp., 129 Misc. 2d 862 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1985).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Bruce McM. Wright, J.

Defendants move for an order pursuant to CPLR 3212 directing that summary judgment be entered in their favor on their first counterclaim, directing that they have possession of apartment 12-A at 244 Madison Avenue, Manhattan; that a warrant of eviction be issued to effectuate possession; that defendants have a money judgment awarding to them use and occupancy in an amount to be determined, with respect to their second counterclaim; that defendants have an award of counsel fees in an amount to be determined; and that such other causes of action as remain be severed.

[863]*863The defendant 244 Madison Realty Corp. owns the cooperative apartment house at the address of its title. Plaintiff owns of record the shares allocated to apartment 12-A. The third-party defendant, Richard Grubman, is the "unapproved subtenant of the apartment,” who is in default in answering process served upon him.

The law of this case has been established by prior proceedings. Plaintiff commenced this action by serving with his summons and complaint an order to show cause seeking to enjoin the defendants from terminating his proprietary lease for the disputed apartment. His request for an interim stay pending the hearing of the motion, so as to toll the running of a notice To cure, instructing him to remove an unauthorized subtenant, was denied. Plaintiff nevertheless did not remove the subtenant and a notice of termination was served and the lease was terminated on December 24, 1984.

Under date of February 6, 1985, plaintiff’s application for a Yellowstone preliminary injunction was denied, since there was no tolling of the cure period and the lease was terminated. It was held that: "Plaintiff’s failure to obtain a toll of the curative period divests this court of its power to grant a preliminary injunction”.

Thereafter, plaintiff applied for reargument. That motion was denied.

When plaintiff purchased the shares allocated to apartment 12-B, it was vacant and adjacent to one he already owned. In exercising his right to purchase at an insider’s price, he certified that he intended to combine both 12-A and 12-B and personally occupy the resulting larger unit. Three months after he certified as required, plaintiff sublet apartment 12-B. The proprietary lease for apartment 12-B specifically provides that subletting is subject to prior consent of the cooperative’s board of directors. Any breach of subletting conditions permits the lessor-corporation to serve a notice of termination, if, after notice to cure, no cure is effected by removal of the unauthorized person.

It appears that the plaintiff sublet in July 1984 and only later, in August, did he ask the board of directors for permission. The board denied the tardy application, since plaintiff had violated sublet guidelines and had not occupied the joined apartment for at least one year prior to subletting, because it appeared to the board that plaintiff desired only to profiteer on his investment in the two apartments and for other rea[864]*864sons. Instead of seeking permission from the shareholders directly, as he had a right to do under his proprietary lease, plaintiff is said to have moved to New Jersey, while allowing the subtenant to continue residing in the apartment.

By reason of all that has gone before, and on the documents annexed to the moving papers, defendants press their motion for summary judgment as to their entitlement to have possession of the apartment.

Confronted with the request by defendants for such drastic relief, the plaintiff cross-moved for permission to renew his application for a Yellowstone injunction to enjoin the running of the cure period in his proprietary lease beyond the 10-day period contained in RPAPL 753 (4); and awarding to plaintiff summary judgment against Richard Grubman, the third-party defendant (the subtenant).

Subsequently, plaintiff withdrew that portion of the cross motion which sought renewal of his application for a Yellowstone injunction, stating that any alleged breach resulting from plaintiffs sublet to third-party defendant Grubman had been cured by the termination of Mr. Grubman’s tenancy.

The same reasons that compelled denial of the original motion hold fast here in their applicability. In effect, the plaintiff is asking that the court reactivate the terminated lease and give it new life. He wants judgment decreeing that he be awarded possession of the apartment.

In support of his argument that defendant’s motion for summary judgment must be denied, plaintiff swears that he had permission from the sponsor of the cooperative. He fails to name any person to whom he spoke and apparently, there is no writing to substantiate such a claim. It is therefore regarded as an unworthy and post litem motam contention.

Plaintiff accuses the board of directors as being hostile and singling him out for selective denial. He states, without evidentiary particulars, that the board that rejected his application for leave to sublet, nevertheless approved sublet applications of other shareholders. His penultimate contention is that the board was arbitrary and capricious in denying him permission to do what he had already done. Such claims seem naked and conclusory in their effort to focus blame on the board although plaintiff clearly violated the terms of his proprietary lease by subletting the apartment before first applying to the board for permission.

Plaintiff addresses in his memorandum of law his entitle[865]*865ment to summary judgment against the third-party defendant, if summary relief is awarded to defendants.

In effect, plaintiff asks for the kind of relief in this court that he could have had in the Civil Court, had defendant 244 Madison Realty Corp. elected to commence a holdover proceeding against him. One of the problems with this case is that, originally, plaintiff presented an order to show cause that provided for staying termination of the plaintiff’s proprietary lease and not for a stay of the running of the notice to cure. At some point, it appears that someone inked in the words "The Notice To Cure dated November 20, 1984 is tolled.” But that appears to be crossed out as well. Counsel’s affirmation suggests that Justice Parness misconstrued Post v 120 E. End Ave. Corp. (62 NY2d 19), and that the defendants "misrepresented” Post in citing it to this court. And, the affirmation continues, the language relied upon by defendants is really a statement of what the law was prior to amendment of RPAPL 753 (4). However, it appears that the change in the law affected disputes in the Civil Court, where, even if a tenant lost, he could still have an additional period of time within which to cure.

Quoting from Post (supra, pp 22-23), the court says at the very outset that: "The section [RPAPL 753 (4)] applies to holdover tenants in residential dwellings in New York City and the new subdivision 4 provides: 'In the event that such proceeding [a summary proceeding to recover possession] is based upon a claim that the tenant or lessee has breached a provision of the lease, the [Civil] court shall grant a ten day stay of the issuance of the warrant [to remove], during which time the respondent [tenant] may correct such breach.’ ”

Significantly, then, by construction of the Court of Appeals itself, the statute refers to "holdover tenants” and "a summary proceeding to recover possession”.

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Bluebook (online)
129 Misc. 2d 862, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/greenbaum-v-244-madison-realty-corp-nysupct-1985.