Carlyle Towers Coop. B, Inc. v. Hsu

Full title: Carlyle Towers Cooperative B, Inc., Respondent, v. Peter Hsu, Defendant…

Court: SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE TERM, SECOND DEPARTMENT, 2d, 11th and 13th JUDICIAL DISTRICTS

Date published: Dec 2, 2015

2015 N.Y. Slip Op. 51783 (N.Y. App. Term 2015)

29 N.Y.S.3d 846

Opinion

2014-881 Q C

12-02-2015

Carlyle Towers Cooperative B, Inc., Respondent, v. Peter Hsu, Defendant, and Lily Hsu, Appellant.

ELLIOT, J.P., PESCE and SOLOMON, JJ.

PRESENT: :

Appeal from a judgment of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Queens County (Richard G. Latin, J.), entered August 27, 2012. The judgment, insofar as appealed from, after a nonjury trial, awarded plaintiff the principal sum of $7,722.68 as against defendant Lily Hsu.

ORDERED that the judgment, insofar as appealed from, is modified by reducing the award to plaintiff as against defendant Lily Hsu to the principal sum of $3,631.24; as so modified, the judgment, insofar as appealed from, is affirmed, without costs.

Pursuant to a provision in a proprietary lease, plaintiff cooperative corporation commenced this action to recover legal fees in the amount of $7,722.68, which it had incurred in defending two small claims actions brought against it by defendants Peter Hsu and Lily Hsu, tenant-shareholders of plaintiff. After a nonjury trial, the Civil Court awarded plaintiff the principal sum of $7,722.68. On appeal, Lily Hsu (appellant) disputes owing plaintiff the legal fees incurred by plaintiff in the first of the two small claims actions.

Upon a review of the record, we find that plaintiff is not entitled to the attorney's fees it incurred in the first small claims action, since, by judgment entered September 7, 2011, plaintiff's counterclaim in that small claims action was dismissed and plaintiff has failed to provide a proper breakdown showing the portion of its attorney's fees in that small claims action that was attributable to its unsuccessful counterclaim (see Megan Holding LLC v Conason, 48 Misc 3d 128[A], 2015 NY Slip Op 50952[U] [App Term, 1st Dept 2015]; Kura, LLC v Praschnik-Buchman, 27 Misc 3d 127[A], 2010 NY Slip Op 50580[U] [App Term, 2d, 11th & 13th Jud Dists 2010]).

Accordingly, the judgment, insofar as appealed from, is modified by reducing the award to plaintiff as against defendant Lily Hsu to the principal sum of $3,631.24, representing the attorneys' fees incurred by plaintiff in the second small claims action.

Elliot, J.P., Pesce and Solomon, JJ., concur.

Decision Date: December 02, 2015