Tenants Can't Conduct Pre-Trial Questioning of Landlord

June 30, 1995

LVT Number: 9835

Landlord sued to evict two hotel-stabilized tenants for nonpayment of rent. Tenants asked the court for permission to question landlord before trial. Tenants claimed that if, as they suspected, landlord had kept 10 percent of its rooms out of the rental market for more than 30 days, it couldn't collect rent increases. The court ruled for tenants, granting their request. Landlord appealed and won. Discovery of this information before a ''summary'' nonpayment proceeding wasn't appropriate. Landlord would have to present this information during the course of a trial anyway.

Landlord sued to evict two hotel-stabilized tenants for nonpayment of rent. Tenants asked the court for permission to question landlord before trial. Tenants claimed that if, as they suspected, landlord had kept 10 percent of its rooms out of the rental market for more than 30 days, it couldn't collect rent increases. The court ruled for tenants, granting their request. Landlord appealed and won. Discovery of this information before a ''summary'' nonpayment proceeding wasn't appropriate. Landlord would have to present this information during the course of a trial anyway. If tenants needed the information to establish counterclaims for rent overcharge, they should withdraw their counterclaims in the nonpayment proceeding and seek to enforce them in another court where they could conduct pre-trial questioning on this issue.

St. George Hotel Assocs. v. Shelton: NYLJ, p. 33, col. 3 (6/27/95) (App. Div. 2 Dept.; Kassoff, PJ, Chetta, Patterson, JJ)

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