Tenant and Her Attorney Sanctioned for Making False Claims

Facts: Landlord sued to evict tenant for illegal subletting. Landlord and tenant, both represented by attorneys, signed a settlement agreement that landlord's attorney submitted to the court. Tenant agreed to move out and agreed that landlord could give subtenant a lease. Several years later, tenant and her new attorney sought to vacate the settlement agreement. She claimed fraud because the new lease given to subtenant was dated February 1997, before the date of the March 1997 settlement agreement. Landlord pointed out that tenant didn't submit to the court certain lease riders that were signed after the settlement agreement date. These showed that subtenant signed the lease in April 1997 but that it was made effective as of February 1997, since that was the effective termination date of tenant's lease. Landlord asked the court to deny tenant's request and sanction tenant and her attorney. Court: Landlord wins. Prior court papers submitted by tenant contained copies of the lease riders that tenant denied knowledge of. Tenant herself was an attorney who actively participated in preparation of her case. Tenant clearly lied about her lack of knowledge of the lease riders and was fined $5,000. Landlord's new attorney also was sanctioned. He claimed that he didn't know about the lease riders, but should have seen them in the court record he had filed for an appeal earlier in the case.

Hudson Tower Hous. Co. v. Weissbrod: NYLJ, 3/5/03, p. 22, col. 4 (Civ. Ct. NY; Schneider, J)