From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research

1809 Realty Company v. Nicholas

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Mar 4, 1991
171 A.D.2d 641 (N.Y. App. Div. 1991)

Opinion

March 4, 1991

Appeal from the Supreme Court for the Second and Eleventh Judicial Districts.


Ordered that the order of the Appellate Term is modified, on the law, by deleting the provision thereof which affirmed so much of the order of the Civil Court as imposed a penalty upon the plaintiff of $20 per hour and substituting therefor a provision reversing so much of the order of the Civil Court as imposed a penalty upon the plaintiff of $20 per hour; as so modified, the order of the Appellate Term is affirmed, without costs or disbursements.

After a hearing following the defendant tenant's default in appearing for trial in a summary proceeding resulting in her eviction, the Civil Court opened the default upon its finding that the tenant's failure to appear was excusable and further ordered that the tenant be restored to possession of the subject apartment and that the plaintiff landlord be required to pay a fine of "$20 per hour for every hour beyond that during which [the landlord] fails" to restore the tenant to possession.

We agree with the landlord that the Civil Court erred in imposing the penalty on it. The Civil Court cited no authority or basis for the imposition of this prospective, open-ended fine, and, indeed, no authority, statutory, or otherwise, exists for the imposition of such a penalty. The imposition of the penalty was therefore erroneous.

We find, however, no basis to disturb so much of the Appellate Term's order as affirmed the vacatur of the default judgment against the tenant and the direction that she be restored to possession of the apartment. Mangano, P.J., Thompson, Eiber and Rosenblatt, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

1809 Realty Company v. Nicholas

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Mar 4, 1991
171 A.D.2d 641 (N.Y. App. Div. 1991)
Case details for

1809 Realty Company v. Nicholas

Case Details

Full title:1809 REALTY COMPANY, Appellant, v. JACQUELINE NICHOLAS, Respondent, and…

Court:Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department

Date published: Mar 4, 1991

Citations

171 A.D.2d 641 (N.Y. App. Div. 1991)
567 N.Y.S.2d 123

Citing Cases

40 E. 52nd St. L.P. v. Carret & Co.

Under New Yoke law, a corporation which purchases the assets of another entity is not liable for the prior…