Tenants Awarded Attorney's Fees Totaling $115,000

Landlord sued to evict tenants, claiming that they were unregulated. Tenants claimed that they were rent stabilized. The court ruled for landlord. Tenants appealed and won. As the prevailing party, tenants then sought attorney's fees in the amount of $134,506. Tenants' attorney submitted detailed time records and cited rates of $350 per hour for housing court work and $450 for work on tenants' appeal. Tenants' attorney testified that he had worked on the case, as well as the appeal, for over four years, that landlord had three different attorneys throughout the case, that landlord was litigious and caused tenants' attorney to spend over 300 hours on the case. This included the filing of eight stipulations, nine affidavits, 28 exhibits, six memos of law, six court orders, and two appeal briefs. There had been 45 court appearances. The court found that the attorney's rates were reasonable given his long-term experience as a landlord-tenant attorney, but reduced the award for some of the hours and for travel expenses. The total award of attorney's fees to tenants was $115,002.

Engel v. Wolfsohn: Index No. 98091/2008, NYLJ No. 1202612814969 (Civ. Ct. Kings; 7/5/13; Ofshtein, J)