Landlord Waited Too Long to Restore Case to Court Calendar

Landlord sued to evict apartment occupant in late 2005 after rent-stabilized tenant died. Occupant claimed that tenant was his grandmother and he had lived with her for two years before she moved into a hospice. He claimed that he had succession rights to the apartment. Both sides agreed to mark the case "off calendar" in order to conduct pretrial questioning. More than a year later, landlord asked the court to restore the case to its calendar. The court ruled against landlord and dismissed the case. The case was marked off calendar in November 2005. Landlord's later motion to compel pretrial questioning was denied in June 2006. Landlord took no further action for over a year. Landlord didn't show any reason for its delay, and the case was presumably abandoned. Landlord also didn't show that it was ready to go to trial.

Cooperative Equities Group IV v. Nightingale: NYLJ, 1/9/08, p. 27, col. 3 (Civ. Ct. NY; Schreiber, J)