Successor Tenant Can Bring Case He Won Back to Court Years Later to Pursue Attorneys' Fees

LVT Number: #33682

Landlord sued to evict tenant and her son for nonprimary residence. The son appeared and claimed succession rights. The court ruled for the son, directed landlord to issue him a rent-stabilized renewal lease, and dismissed landlord's case. No final judgment was entered.

Landlord sued to evict tenant and her son for nonprimary residence. The son appeared and claimed succession rights. The court ruled for the son, directed landlord to issue him a rent-stabilized renewal lease, and dismissed landlord's case. No final judgment was entered.

Four years later, the son sought to restore the case to the court's calendar for an award on his counterclaim for attorney's fees. The court denied the son's motion to restore, implicitly denying attorney's fees. In effect, the court ruled that the son's counterclaim had been dismissed by the court four years earlier and the son never appealed that decision.

The son appealed, and the case was reopened. The trial court's original decision wasn't an implicit denial of the son's counterclaim for attorney's fees since that claim didn't ripen until the decision granting him succession rights identified him as being entitled to the counterclaim. The appeals court sent the case back to the trial court for a ruling on the son's attorney's fees claim.

325 1st St. Apts. LLC v. Diaz: App. No. 2024-1001KC, 2025 NY Slip Op 50510(U)(App. Div. 2 Dept.; 4/4/25; Buggs, JP, Mundy, Quinones, JJ)