Court Approves Stuy Town Class Action Settlement
LVT Number: #24809
New York's highest court ruled that landlord of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village apartment complexes had violated the Rent Stabilization Law by applying high-rent deregulation to rent-stabilized apartments while receiving J-51 tax benefits. The rent-stabilization status of deregulated units was reinstated. The case was sent back to the trial court for determination of a base rent date and calculation of rent overcharges. Landlord and tenants signed a settlement agreement resolving these questions, which was approved by the court.
The parties agreed that for tenants involved: (a) the base date for determining legal rents and any overcharges was the rent stated in leases in effect on Jan. 22, 2003, or the first lease date thereafter if no lease was in effect on that base date; and (b) the legal rent for each unit would be determined by increasing the base date rent by all standard vacancy increases, all long-term vacancy increases, any individual apartment improvement increases, Rent Guidelines Board increases, intercom surcharges, air conditioning surcharges, MCI increases, and all other rent adjustments permitted under rent stabilization. In addition, there were provisions for modified legal rents and preferential rents in certain cases. Apartments would no longer be subject to rent stabilization after the expiration of the leases in effect when J-51 benefits expired, which would be on or about June 30, 2020, regardless of whether leases contained J-51 notification riders. All leases and renewal leases signed previously by affected tenants were deemed to be amended as rent stabilized, and all renewal leases would state the legal rent, modified legal rent, and preferential rent for the apartments. All claims for triple damages, punitive damages, fines, or interest were waived. Tenants' attorneys were awarded $18,906,250 in attorney's fees and $209,190.59 in costs. Claims administrator's fees and costs for continuing administration of the settlement in amounts of up to $900,000 also were granted.
Roberts v. PCV St Owner LP: Index No. 100956/07, NYLJ 1202596032434 (Sup. Ct. NY; 4/10/13; Lowe III, J)