Direnna v Christensen

2008 NY Slip Op 10198 [57 AD3d 408]

December 30, 2008

Appellate Division, First Department

As corrected through Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Patrick Direnna, Respondent, v Paul P. Christensen,Appellant.

—[*1]David E. Frazer, New York, for appellant.

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Milton A. Tingling, J.), entered July 14, 2008,which, in an action alleging unlawful rent overcharges, denied defendant's motion pursuant toCPLR 3211 (a) (5) to dismiss the amended complaint, unanimously reversed, on the law, withoutcosts, and the motion granted. The Clerk is directed to enter judgment in favor of defendantdismissing the amended complaint.

Plaintiff subtenant's action is time-barred since the first overcharge alleged by him occurredin April 2003 and this action was not commenced until September 2007 (see Mozes v Shanaman, 21 AD3d854 [2005], lv denied 6 NY3d 715 [2006]; CPLR 213-a). Plaintiff may not avoid theapplicable four-year statute of limitations by amending his complaint to withdraw his claim forearlier months of rent overcharge (seee.g. Reddington v Staten Is. Univ. Hosp., 11 NY3d 80, 87-88 [2008]; Bones v Prudential Fin., Inc., 54 AD3d589 [2008]). Concur—Lippman, P.J., Gonzalez, Nardelli, Buckley and Acosta, JJ.