Tenant’s Default Vacated in Nonpayment Case

Landlord sued to evict Mitchell-Lama tenant for nonpayment of rent. The court ruled for landlord based on tenant’s default. Tenant appealed and won. Tenant’s single nonappearance in court wasn’t willful and there was no showing that landlord was harmed by the brief delay. Tenant also showed he had a potentially meritorious defense to nonpayment of the Mitchell-Lama surcharges landlord claimed were owed. However, the appeals court upheld the denial of tenant’s request to conduct pretrial questioning since tenant’s request was overly broad or sought irrelevant information. And the court properly struck tenant’s jury demand since tenant’s lease contained an enforceable jury waiver provision.

Inwood Gardens, Inc. v. Udoh: 49 Misc.3d 137(A), 2015 NY Slip Op 51536(U) (App. T. 1 Dept.; 10/22/15; Lowe III, PJ, Schoenfeld, Hunter Jr., JJ)