Nonpayment Proceeding Separate from Fraud Case

(Decision submitted by Samuel J. Himmelstein of the Manhattan law firm of Himmelstein, McConnell & Gribben, attorneys for the tenant.) Facts: Tenant moved into apartment in January 1990 and paid a monthly rent of $3,200. Tenant soon began withholding rent, claiming that he was being overcharged. Landlord sued to evict tenant for nonpayment. The trial court found that landlord had willfully overcharged tenant and reduced tenant's rent to $1,365; the court also dismissed the nonpayment action. In the meantime, landlord had started another action against tenant, claiming that tenant misrepresented himself. Landlord claimed that tenant lied about the identity of his prior landlord and about the financial state of his business; tenant also had a criminal record. Landlord argued that tenant's lease should be rescinded based on fraud, and asked the court to combine the fraud and nonpayment cases. Court: There was no reason to consolidate these two cases. The nonpayment case had already proceeded to trial, and whether or not tenant misrepresented himself to landlord didn't affect the fact that landlord had overcharged tenant.

Herman v. Lancaster: NYLJ, p. 21, col. 2 (5/5/93) (Sup. Ct. N.Y.; Mazzarelli, J)