Tenant Filed Appeal of Money Judgment on Time

Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized tenant for illegal subletting. The court ruled for landlord without holding a trial. The court issued two separate judgments, one for possession and one for a money judgment to be paid by tenant. Landlord's attorney sent copies of both judgments to tenant's attorney. Tenant's attorney filed notices of appeal of both judgments. Landlord's attorney claimed that tenant's notices of appeal weren't filed on time. The court ruled for landlord in part. Tenant's attorney filed the notice of appeal of the judgment for possession more than 35 days after landlord sent the order with ''notice of entry'' to tenant's attorney. So that notice of appeal was clearly not on time. But the money judgment that landlord sent with notice of entry was never actually signed by the judge. So the time limit for filing the notice of appeal of that judgment never actually started running and tenant's notice of appeal was on time.

Golden Properties, Inc. v. Knox: NYLJ, p. 27, col. 1 (1/13/99) (Civ. Ct. NY; Shulman, J)