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]).
At bar, the deliberate resort to self-help, unlawful eviction, removal, damage and destruction of plaintiff's property from the side niches in the common vestibule, and the installation of cages to prevent reentry was not unintentional (see Moran at 773), and, as per the verdict, was the cause of the delayed reopening and some ensuing loss of profits. A showing of physical force or violence is not necessary to sustain an award of treble damages (O'Hara v. Bishop, 256 AD2d 983, 984 [3d Dept 1998]). Further, treble damages are subject to pre-judgment interest (Mohassel v. Fenwick, 5 NY3d 44 [2005]); Altman v. 285 West Fourth LLC, 143 AD3d 415 [1st Dept 2016]).