The amendment to the statute has resulted in some variation in the criteria applied in assessing treble damages against a wrongdoer. The Appellate Division, Third Department has permitted the recovery of punitive damages in addition to the statutory treble damages (Bianchi v. Hood, 128 A.D.2d 1007, 1008) and endorsed the use of nominal damages where actual damages cannot be established (O'Hara v. Bishop, 256 A.D.2d 983, 984). The Appellate Division, Second Department, by contrast, has taken the position that "multiple damages statutes are penal in nature and are to be strictly construed" (Lyke v. Anderson, 147 A.D.2d 18, 28), indicating, in dicta, that it would be inappropriate to assess treble damages "where a tenant is dispossessed by 'unlawful means' which are unintentional or which result from a reversal of a determination in the landlord's favor or from a jurisdictionally defective eviction proceeding" (supra, at 28, citing Mannion v. Bayfield Dev. Co., 134 Misc.2d 1060 [award of treble damages under RPAPL 853 is discretionary, not mandatory]; e.g., Lemish v. East-West Renovating Co., 156 A.D.2d 313, 314 [subsequent reversal and vacatur of warrant]).