Practice point: Under Real Property Law § 234, when a residential lease provides for a
landlord's recovery of attorneys' fees resulting from a tenant's
failure to perform a lease covenant, a reciprocal covenant is implied
requiring the landlord to pay the tenant's attorneys' fees incurred as a
result of the tenant's successful defense of an action or
summary proceeding commenced by the landlord arising out of the lease.
Student note: To support the award of fees, the tenant
must be the prevailing party, that is, the result must be substantially
favorable to the tenant.
Case: Matter of 251 CPW Hous. LLC v. Pastreich, NY Slip Op 00208 (1st Dept. 2015)
Here is the decision.
Monday's issue: An employer's liability for an employee's bad acts.
