Opinion
571029/03.
Decided October 21, 2004.
Tenant appeals 1) from an order of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Bronx County, dated January 16, 2003 (Elizabeth J. Yalin Tao, J.) which denied his motion to stay execution of a warrant of eviction in a summary holdover proceeding based upon chronic nonpayment of rent, and 2) from an order of the same court and Judge dated August 13, 2003 which denied his motion to renew and reargue the aforesaid order.
Orders dated January 16, 2003 and August 13, 2003 (Elizabeth J. Yalin Tao, J.) affirmed, with $10 costs.
PRESENT: HON. LUCINDO SUAREZ, P.J., HON. PHYLLIS GANGEL-JACOB, HON. MARTIN SCHOENFELD, Justices.
Civil Court did not abuse its discretion in denying tenant relief from his repeated defaults in tendering rent due pursuant to the unambiguous payment terms of the parties' settlement stipulation. "Strict enforcement of the parties' stipulation . . . is warranted based upon the principle that the parties to a civil dispute are free to chart their own litigation course" ( Mill Rock Plaza Assocs. v. Lively, 224 AD2d 301), particularly where, as here, the rent delinquencies underlying the landlord's holdover petition continued unabated into the six-month probationary period agreed to by the parties. Contrary to tenant's contention, the obligations set forth in the settlement stipulation were independent of each other, and tenant's obligation to timely pay accruing rent — the centerpiece of the litigation — was not conditioned upon the landlord's issuance of a renewal lease offer ( see Ferrara v. MacArthur Assocs., 201 AD2d 699). We have considered and rejected the tenant's remaining arguments.
This constitutes the decision and order of the court.