Louis J. Ehret Holding Corp. v. Anderson Galleries, Inc.

138 Misc. 722, 247 N.Y.S. 235, 1930 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1859
CourtCity of New York Municipal Court
DecidedDecember 27, 1930
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 138 Misc. 722 (Louis J. Ehret Holding Corp. v. Anderson Galleries, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering City of New York Municipal Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Louis J. Ehret Holding Corp. v. Anderson Galleries, Inc., 138 Misc. 722, 247 N.Y.S. 235, 1930 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1859 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1930).

Opinion

Genung, J.

This is a summary proceeding to remove the tenant, assignee of the tenant, and the undertenants on the ground that they are holding over without the permission of the landlord, after the expiration of the tenant’s term.

The written lease dated December 27, 1917, provides for a fixed term of twenty years and ten months from December 1, 1917, “ unless sooner terminated, as hereinafter provided,” with the privilege to the tenant of renewal for a further term of twenty-one years upon certain terms and conditions in the lease prescribed.

The landlord claims an earlier expiration of the term of the lease to have been effected by virtue of (1) a clause in the lease which it construes as a conditional limitation, (2) a breach by the tenant in its failure to pay rent and taxes, and (3) the service by the landlord, pursuant to the provisions of said lease, of a notice declaring its election because of such breach to have the lease expire on October 28, 1930.

The breach by the tenant in failing to pay the taxes which fell due on May 1, 1930, and the rent which accrued on September "1, 1930, aggregating $20,417.24, is admitted. The lease expressly provides that in case of default by the tenant in the payment of taxes, the landlord may pay the same and regard it as additional rent. The documentary evidence establishes the default of the [724]*724tenant, payment of the taxes by the landlord, followed by a demand for payment by the tenant, which was not complied with, and finally a notice of election by the landlord to terminate the lease on October 28, 1930, thirty days after the service of the notice. The only question presented for adjudication is whether the defeasance clause in the lease creates a conditional limitation which permits the landlord to maintain this holdover proceeding as upon the expiration of the lease, or whether, as claimed by the tenant, it is only a condition subsequent under which the landlord may seek a forfeiture of the lease and re-enter through an action in ejectment.

The clause which requires construction by the court in order to determine this question, reads as follows: In case of any default being made by the Tenant in the payment of said rent or any of the sums which may be added to the rent or any part thereof at the times or in the manner above provided or if the Tenant shall make default in the performance of any of the covenants, conditions or agreements herein provided or in case said premises shall become vacant or abandoned this lease and the relation of Landlord and Tenant shall, at the option of the Landlord, cease and determine and this lease come to an end thirty days after notice given as hereinafter provided, of election to so terminate the same, and provided such default be not remedied during the running of said notice, the Landlord may resume possession of said premises, either by force or otherwise, and remove all persons therefrom without being liable to any prosecution therefor and may re-enter upon and fully have and enjoy and possess the said premises as and of his former estate therein and the Tenant in such case waives service of any further notice of intention to so re-enter upon said premises, or at the option of the Landlord, he may relet the said premises or any part thereof as the agent of said Tenant and receive the rent therefor, applying the same first to the payment of such expense as the Landlord may be put to in re-entering or resuming possession of said premises as aforesaid and then to the payment of the rent and fulfillment of the Tenant’s covenants under these presents and said Tenant shall be liable for any deficiency which may arise during the remainder of said term and shall pay the same in monthly payments as the amounts shall at such time or times be ascertained.”

The next succeeding paragraph of the lease reads as follows: In case of election of the Landlord to terminate this lease as aforesaid, the Landlord may, at his option, recover possession of said premises either by summary proceedings, as in case of Tenant holding over after expiration of his term, or by re-entry by action of ejectment, and the Tenant hereby waives notice of intention so to do.”

[725]*725The landlord contends that within the well-known authorities which have distinguished a condition from a conditional limitation, there is presented here a clear case of an earlier expiration at a definite time fixed in the landlord’s thirty-day notice. The tenants claim that the language of the clause makes the termination of the lease dependent upon the landlord’s election to be exercised after the expiration of the thirty days’ notice, provided the tenant has not in the meantime cured its default by payment, and that such language gives the landlord a further option, at the expiration of the thirty days’ notice and after re-entry, to relet the premises as agent for the tenant for the balance of the original term fixed by the lease, and to charge the tenant with any deficiency which may arise during the remainder of such term. It is contended that this second option to keep the tenancy alive after the termination of the lease, for the purpose and to the extent of continuing the tenant’s liability for rent and the performance of its other covenants under the lease, deprives the first option of the characteristics of a conditional limitation, and stamps it as a right of forfeiture for a broken condition.

The language of the two clauses quoted above, when read together, may be summarized as follows: Upon a breach by the tenant, the landlord is given the option to terminate the lease upon thirty days’ notice, and upon the expiration of such thirty days, without the tenant having cured its default during the running of the notice, the landlord may re-enter, and he then has the further option of either fully enjoying and possessing the said premises “ as and of his former estate therein,” or of reletting the said premises as the agent of the tenant, applying the rents'Trst to the payment of the expenses of such re-entry, and then to the payment of the rent and the fulfillment of other covenants specified in the lease, and that the tenant shall then be liable for any deficiency which may arise during the remainder of the said term;/when the landlord elects to so terminate the lease, he has the further option of pursuing one of two remedies, either summary proceedings by reason of the tenant holding over, or by means of a suit in ejectment.

It is true that the provision in the second clause with respect to the landlord’s right of choice as between summary proceedings and ejectment has not the legal effect of granting to the landlord, by way of consent, the right of removing his tenant by summary proceedings as for a holdover. The landlord must establish his right as a matter of jurisdiction upon the remaining covenants of the lease. (Beach v. Nixon. 9 N. Y. 35, 37; Riesenfeld v. R-W Realty Co., 223 App. Div. 140; Burnee Corp. v. Uneeda Pure Orange Drink Co., 132 Misc. 435.) However, such language may be taken into [726]*726consideration by the courts in reading the intention of the parties from the entire instrument. (Lenco, Inc., v. Hirschfeld, 247 N. Y. 44, 49.)

The technical common-law meaning of the term “ re-enter ” as indicating an ouster by means of an ejectment suit, and excluding dispossession by summary proceedings (Michaels v. Fishel, 169 N. Y. 381), has been held inapplicable to cases where, as here, the lease speaks of resuming possession

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
138 Misc. 722, 247 N.Y.S. 235, 1930 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1859, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/louis-j-ehret-holding-corp-v-anderson-galleries-inc-nynyccityct-1930.