Court Allows Jury Trial Despite Jury Waiver Clause in Lease

Landlord sued to evict tenants and their son for illegal use of their apartment under New York’s “bawdy house law.” In December 2008, police arrested the son for drug possession. After the son pleaded guilty, the district attorney demanded that landlord start an eviction proceeding. Tenants denied that drug transactions took place in the apartment and demanded a jury trial. Landlord objected and pointed out that tenants’ lease contained a jury waiver clause. Tenants said that the lease was no longer in effect, while landlord argued that the lease still controlled the procedural rights of landlord and tenants. The court ruled for tenants. The lease was now void, and the right to a jury trial was so fundamental that it shouldn’t be waived.

2475 Hughes Ave. Realty Corp. v. Gonzalez: NYLJ, 3/11/10, p. 41, col. 3 (Civ. Ct. Bronx; McClanahan, J)