Tenant's Attorney Disqualified from Loft Proceeding

Facts: In 1986, new landlord bought loft building and settled before the Loft Board a long-standing dispute with five residential loft tenants. Landlord agreed to legalize the lofts, convert them into condominiums to be offered to the five tenants at agreed-upon prices, and forego rent payments until a new certificate of occupancy was issued. The five tenants were represented by the then existing law firm of Fischbein, Olivieri, Rozenholc and Badillo. One tenant, who lived above the ground-floor restaurant, was later unhappy with the settlement and applied to the Loft Board to set it aside. Landlord and the other four tenants opposed the application. Tenant then hired Rozenholc, whose prior firm had dissolved and who now had his own firm. Tenants asked the Loft Board to disqualify Rozenholc for conflict of interest. The Loft Board claimed that it didn't have the expertise to do so, and tenants appealed. Court: Tenant's attorney is disqualified. The other four tenants all stated that Rozenholc had supervised the Fisch-bein, Olivieri attorney who represented the tenants in the prior proceeding and that he'd been a key negotiator in the settlement. Rozenholc offered no statements to the contrary. Notably, another attorney from the old firm had refused to represent the four other tenants in their opposition to tenant's application because it would be a conflict. Tenant was directed to retain a new attorney within 20 days.

[Matter of Obenhaus: NYLJ, p. 24, col. 5 (1/11/93) (Sup. Ct. NY; Shainswit, J)].