Tenant's Claim Denied

(Decision submitted by James Marino of the Manhattan law firm of Kucker Kraus & Bruh, attorneys for the landlord.) Tenants complained of a rent overcharge. They claimed landlord fraudulently registered their rent-stabilized apartments as hotel units. Therefore they claimed that their initial registered rent should be adjusted. The DHCR ruled against tenants, and they appealed. The court and appeals court also ruled against tenants. Based on a 1984 CAB opinion, many tenants in the building had joined in a prior claim for rent rollbacks and building reclassification. Tenants in this case dropped out of the prior action, which other tenants lost. While tenants' claim here wasn't exactly the same as that of tenants in the prior case, the result barred tenants' claim. Tenants could have pressed their claims in the prior case with other tenants. The court found it would be inconsistent to rule differently now.

Marder v. DHCR: NYLJ, p. 25, col. 5 (10/5/95) (App. Div. 1 Dept.; Murphy, PJ, Wallach, Ross, Nardelli, Tom, JJ)