Tenant’s Daughter Gets Attorney's Fees

Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized tenant’s daughter after tenant died. The court ruled for the daughter, who claimed succession rights to the apartment, after landlord abandoned the case. The court also awarded the daughter $200 in attorney’s fees. The daughter appealed, seeking a larger award. The appeals court ruled for the daughter. A provision of tenant’s lease stated that landlord was entitled to attorney’s fees if tenant breached the lease and that any sum not in excess of $200 would be deemed reasonable. But this only meant that if landlord won and sought more than $200, it would have to prove that the fees were reasonable. The lease clause didn’t bar the daughter, as successor tenant, from getting a larger award of attorney’s fees. The appeals court awarded the daughter attorney’s fees in the amount of $24,000.

Queens Fresh Meadows, LLC v. Newberry: 2014 NY Slip Op 24316, 2014 WL 5369130 (App. T. 2 Dept.; 10/3/14; Weston, JP, Aliotta, Elliot, JJ)