Honig, Antar and Ross Victorious on Summary Judgment

Jeremy Honig, Mark Antar and Burton Ross won summary judgment against the guarantor of a commercial lease on behalf of the plaintiff-owner of 1590 York Avenue, New York, NY (at 84th Street), securing a money judgment for all rent, real estate taxes and other charges incurred by the defaulting tenant.

In a recently issued decision, the New York County Supreme Court (Hon. Nancy Bannon) credited all of the proof submitted by Rivkin and found that the defendant-guarantor failed to raise a triable issue of fact with respect to the enforceability of the guaranty or the owner’s damages.  The court also rejected the defendant-guarantor’s argument that summary judgment was premature because the parties had not engaged in discovery.  The court agreed with Rivkin that the defendant-guarantor failed to present an evidentiary basis for discovery, and instead relied on “hope and speculation” about what might be disclosed, which is insufficient as a matter of law.  The court also held that the plaintiff-owner was entitled to attorney’s fees in an amount to be determined by subsequent submission.

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