Curtis Attorneys Win Important Precedential Decision Before Appellate Term, Second Department

At the request of Sanctuary for Families, the firm took on the appeal from an attorneys fee award to a landlord who had prevailed in a summary holdover proceeding against a Sanctuary client. The sums at issue were relatively small, but the trial court’s interpretation of the form lease terms at issue was a departure from prevailing law and posed a significant precedential threat to future tenant litigants who could face financial ruin, even where they agreed to consent to a holdover judgment of eviction. New York associate Ben Woodruff briefed and argued the appeal at the Appellate Term, Second Department in the matter, Sokolow v. Neumann-Werth. Oral argument was held on October 17. The appeal court’s decision and order reversing the trial court and dismissing the case in its entirety was issued on November 2.