Frivolous Conduct of Tenant's Attorneys

Under a court-ordered agreement, landlord agreed to correct any lead paint hazards in tenant's apartment. Tenant later asked the court to hold landlord in contempt for not complying with the agreement. When tenant asked for the contempt finding, there was no investigation, test results, or medical proof of any hazardous condition. Later testing in tenant's apartment also showed no hazardous condition, and so tenant withdrew the request for the contempt finding. Landlord then asked the court for attorney's fees incurred in defending against tenant's groundless contempt motion because it was frivolous. The court ruled for landlord. Tenant appealed and lost. Tenant's contempt motion was ``frivolous'' under New York court rules and warranted tenant's payment of landlord's costs to defend against it.

Edgecombe Revitalization Corp. v. Newbold: NYLJ, p. 25, col. 2 (11/25/97) (App. T. 1 Dept.; Ostrau, PJ, McCooe, Freedman, JJ)