| Matter of Blair v New York State Div. of Hous. & CommunityRenewal |
| 2012 NY Slip Op 05254 [96 AD3d 687] |
| June 28, 2012 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| In the Matter of Dwight Blair, Respondent, v New YorkState Division of Housing and Community Renewal, Respondent, and Concourse Village, Inc.,Appellant. |
—[*1] Sperber Denenberg & Kahan, P.C., New York (Jacqueline Handel-Harbour of counsel), forDwight Blair, respondent. Eric T. Schneiderman, Attorney General, New York (Simon Heller of counsel), for amicuscuriae.
Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (John A. Barone, J.), entered November 21, 2011,which ordered a hearing to determine the amount of attorney's fees to which petitioner wasentitled in connection with a CPLR article 78 proceeding and the underlying administrativeproceedings commenced to establish his successor interest in a Mitchell-Lama apartment,unanimously reversed, on the law, without costs, and the motion for attorney's fees denied.
Real Property Law § 234 provides for a reciprocal right to attorney's fees where aresidential lease authorizes such fees in favor of the landlord "in any action or summaryproceeding." Because this provision does not apply to either [*2]administrative proceedings or proceedings brought pursuant toCPLR article 78 (see Matter of Chessin v New York City Conciliation & Appeals Bd.,100 AD2d 297, 306 [1984]), petitioner is not entitled to attorney's fees. Concur—Saxe,J.P., Friedman, Renwick, DeGrasse and Richter, JJ.