Helms Realty Corp. v. City of N.Y.

320 F. Supp. 3d 526
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Illinois
DecidedAugust 8, 2018
Docket17 Civ. 4662 (AKH)
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 320 F. Supp. 3d 526 (Helms Realty Corp. v. City of N.Y.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Helms Realty Corp. v. City of N.Y., 320 F. Supp. 3d 526 (S.D. Ill. 2018).

Opinion

ALVIN K. HELLERSTEIN, U.S.D.J.:

Plaintiff Helms Realty Corp. ("Helms") filed this action on June 20, 2017, challenging the constitutionality of Section 121 of New York's Multiple Dwelling Law *530("MDL"),1 passed into law on October 21, 2016 and colloquially referred to as the "Airbnb Law." Section 121 prohibits advertising the use of a class A multiple dwelling for non-permanent residence purposes. The Complaint alleges that this provision is unconstitutionally vague, facially and as applied to Plaintiff, in violation of the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Defendants now move to dismiss the Complaint or in the alternative to stay the proceedings pending the conclusion of state court proceedings. For the reasons stated below, I deny the motions.

STATUTORY FRAMEWORK

Two statutory provisions form the basis of the instant suit. Because of their importance to understanding the Complaint, I begin with describing them.

The first provision is § 4(8) of the New York Multiple Dwelling Law ("MDL"). This provision defines the term "class A" dwelling, and prohibits using class A dwellings for non-permanent residence purposes. § 4(8)(a) defines a "class A" dwelling as follows:

A "class A" multiple dwelling is a multiple dwelling that is occupied for permanent residence purposes. This class shall include tenements, flat houses, maisonette apartments, apartment houses, apartment hotels ... and all other multiple dwellings except class B multiple dwellings. A class A multiple dwelling shall only be used for permanent residence purposes. For the purposes of this definition, "permanent residence purposes" shall consist of occupancy of a dwelling unit by the same natural person or family for thirty consecutive days or more ....

Put simply, § 4(8) prohibits using a class A dwelling for non-permanent residence purposes. Furthermore, a "class B" dwelling, as contrasted with "class A" dwelling, is defined as follows:

A "class B" multiple dwelling is a multiple dwelling which is occupied, as a rule transiently, as the more or less temporary abode of individuals or families who are lodged with or without meals. This class shall include hotels, lodging houses, rooming houses, boarding houses, boarding schools, furnished room houses, lodgings, club houses, college and school dormitories and dwellings designed as private dwellings but occupied by one or two families with five or more transient boarders, roomers or lodgers in one household.

§ 4(9). That is, whereas a class A building cannot be used for transient occupancy, a class B building can be.

The second relevant provision is § 121 of the New York MDL. This provision prohibits advertising class A dwellings for illegal uses, where such uses are illegal under § 4(8). § 121(1) incorporates by reference § 4(8) and states as follows:

It shall be unlawful to advertise occupancy or use of dwelling units in a class A multiple dwelling for occupancy that would violate subdivision eight of section four of this chapter defining a "class A" multiple dwelling as a multiple dwelling that is occupied for permanent residence purposes.

That is, § 121(1) prohibits advertising class A dwellings for non-permanent residence occupancy.

*531Finally, § 121 also defines the term "advertise," as the term is used in § 121(1). § 121(3) defines term "advertise" to mean as follows:

For the purposes of this section, the term "advertise" shall mean any form of communication for marketing that is used to encourage, persuade or manipulate viewers, readers or listeners into contracting for goods and/or services as may be viewed through various media including, but not limited to, newspapers, magazines, flyers, handbills, television commercials, radio, signage, direct mail, websites or text messages.

That is, the term "advertise" refers to communications intended to encourage persons into contracting for goods or services.

COMPLAINT

Plaintiff

Plaintiff Helms owns and operates The Broadway Hotel and Hostel (the "Hotel"), located at 230 West 101st Street in New York City, a hotel with 126 rooms and which has been in use as a hotel for the last 75 years. See First Amended Complaint ("Complaint"), Dkt. No. 34 at ¶ 3.2 The Hotel uses its 126 rooms for transient occupancy, or occupancy of less than 30 days, and advertises room vacancies on online websites.

A short history of the hotel is useful. Before 1938, it was not legally required for buildings to have certificates of occupancies, or CO's, which describe what is and is not appropriate use of a building. ¶ 20. Prior to 1938, and in lieu of CO's, the Department of Buildings maintained what were called "I-Cards," which contained information relevant to the proper use and categorization of buildings. The Hotel's I-Cards designate the 126 rooms as class "B" single room occupancy units. ¶ 22. In 1942, the Department of Buildings issued a CO to the Hotel for the first time, and the CO permitted the Hotel to use its rooms for transient occupancy. The CO however did not designate the Hotel as a class "A" or "B" building, but instead as "Old Law Tenement, Single Room Occupancy." The parties dispute the implications of the I-Cards and CO to the current categorization of the Hotel as class A or class B.

Defendants

Defendants, the City of New York and its associated enforcement entities, oppose the Hotel's use for transient occupancy. According to Defendants, it is illegal under New York State and City law for Helms to use its rooms for transient occupancy or to advertise use for transient occupancy. Defendants have attempted to sanction Helms for both of these illegal activities, i.e. , illegal use and illegal advertising.

First, regarding illegal use, Defendants issued Plaintiff citations on December 30, 2014, under N.Y.C. Administrative Code § 28-210.3, for illegally using the Hotel for transient occupancy. § 28-210.1 makes it "unlawful for any person or entity who owns or occupies a ... dwelling unit classified for permanent residence purposes to use or occupy ... such multiple dwelling or dwelling unit for other than permanent residence purposes." The City contended in issuing its citation that Plaintiff's Hotel was a class A multiple dwelling and that its use for transient occupancy therefore violated § 4(8).

A hearing officer, however, dismissed these violations. Examining the history of the Hotel's occupancy and the language of *532the CO, the hearing officer found that the Hotel was not a class A dwelling and therefore did not violate § 4(8). The City appealed and, on February 2, 2017, the Environmental Control Board ("ECB"), the administrative body hearing the appeal, denied the appeal and upheld the hearing officer's dismissal. ¶ 26. See New York City v. Helms Realty Corp. , ECB Appeal No. 1601223 (Feb. 2, 2017) ("ECB Decision") (Annexed as Exhibit D to the Declaration of Emily K. Stitelman, Dkt. No. 38, Ex. D).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Trump v. James
N.D. New York, 2022

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
320 F. Supp. 3d 526, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/helms-realty-corp-v-city-of-ny-ilsd-2018.