Honig and Mascia Victorious at Appellate Division, Second Department

Jeremy Honig and Henry Mascia represented a commercial tenant in a landlord-tenant dispute.

The landlord tried to terminate our client’s valuable long-term lease with below-market rent when our client exercised its right to extend the term until 2033. The landlord claimed our client, a limited liability corporation (LLC), had no rights under the lease because the lease was initially signed by a related corporation and the landlord did not consent to an assignment.

The tenant hired the firm to start a declaratory judgment action, arguing that the LLC had succeeded to the rights of the corporation 20 years ago, during which time the landlord treated the LLC as the tenant by, among other things, accepting rent from the LLC every month without objection. The Supreme Court granted our motion for summary judgment seeking a declaration that our client was the tenant under the lease and validly exercised the lease extension.

On appeal, the Appellate Division, Second Department affirmed the Supreme Court order in its entirety, agreeing with the Supreme Court that the landlord waived its right to object to the alleged assignment, and remanded to the Supreme Court for entry of the requested declaratory judgment.

Preserving the client’s rights under the valuable commercial lease carried tremendous financial importance to the client by securing its rights to the below-market lease for many more years. View the full decision here.