Prior Court Ruling Held Co-op Tenants Were Rent Stabilized

Landlord cooperative corporation sued to evict tenants, claiming that they were unregulated. Tenants argued that they were subject to rent stabilization and cited a prior court ruling. The court ruled for tenants and dismissed the case. Landlord appealed and lost. In a prior case by landlord against the same tenants, the court ruled in tenants' favor. Although the focus of the prior litigation concerned the building's claimed cooperative status on or before June 30, 1974, landlord couldn't avoid the effect of that ruling by making an alternative legal argument here that the apartment was exempt from stabilization coverage due to the building's status after June 30, 1974. Notably, landlord had unsuccessfully tried to make a new argument in the earlier case during trial.

Rapone v. Katz: 39 Misc.3d 129(A), 2013 NY Slip Op 50436(U) (App. T. 1 Dept.; 3/27/13; Lowe III, PJ, Shulman Schoenfeld, JJ)