| Katz Park Ave. Corp. v Jagger |
| 2012 NY Slip Op 06391 [98 AD3d 921] |
| September 27, 2012 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| Katz Park Avenue Corp. et al., Respondents, v BiancaJagger, Appellant, et al., Defendants. |
—[*1] Belkin Burden Wenig & Goldman, LLP, New York (Magda L. Cruz of counsel), forrespondents.
Appeal from order and judgment (one paper), Supreme Court, New York County (Howard G.Leventhal, Special Ref.), entered August 16, 2010, deemed an appeal from an amended order andjudgment (one paper), same court and Special Referee, entered October 5, 2010, awardingplaintiffs $343,827.36 in attorneys' fees and $246,468 in fair market use and occupancy for theperiod March 1, 2005 through December 31, 2007, unanimously affirmed, without costs, withrespect to the amount of the award and the award of fees incurred in making the attorneys' feeapplication, and otherwise unanimously dismissed, without costs.
We reject the contention that defendant's failure to appeal from the original order andjudgment warrants dismissal of the entire appeal (see CPLR 5517, 2001, 5520 [c]). Thesubsequent sua sponte amendment by the Special Referee to vacate the order and judgment forwhich defendant had timely filed a notice of appeal contains no substantive change relevant tothe issues on appeal. However, the issues defendant now seeks to raise with respect to plaintiffs'entitlement to attorneys' fees and fair market rate, rather than last regulated rent use andoccupancy, are precluded by the non-appealed prior order of Supreme Court (Doris Ling-Cohan,J.) and our dismissal of the appeal from the amendment of that order. In any event, defendant'sarguments lack merit. Our decision in Oxford Towers Co., LLC v Wagner (58 AD3d 422 [1st Dept2009]), relied upon by defendant, is distinguishable. In that case, we denied attorneys' fees wherethe agreement was not a lease and the landlord sought rescission of that agreement (see Matter of Casamento v Juaregui, 88AD3d 345, 357-358 [2d Dept 2011]). Defendant never had a right to a regulated rent, sothere is no basis for using that amount to determine use and occupancy (see Weiden v 926Park Ave. Corp., 154 AD2d 308 [1st Dept 1989]).
Plaintiffs were entitled to the fees they incurred in obtaining attorneys' fees (see 1050 Tenants Corp. v Lapidus, 52AD3d 248 [1st Dept 2008]). The amounts awarded for attorneys' fees and for use andoccupancy were substantially supported by the record and based on the Referee's credibilitydeterminations. Furthermore, the Referee drew the appropriate adverse inference againstdefendant, who failed to [*2]testify or present any evidencedespite being advised of the need to do so and despite several adjournments to facilitate herappearance before the Special Referee. We note that, upon our own review of the evidencesubmitted to support the fee award (see Tige Real Estate Dev. Co. v Rankin-Smith, 233AD2d 227, 228 [1st Dept 1996]), we find no basis to disturb the determination.Concur—Tom, J.P., Mazzarelli, Saxe and Catterson, JJ.