An article in today’s New York Times discussed a case currently pending before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The litigation discussed involves a rent stabilized tenant who filed for Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy. Although the details of bankruptcy law are beyond the scope of this…
Regional news outlets in the New York metropolitan area recently reported on Airbnb, an online search engine used to locate short term rentals for those wishing to occupy an apartment in New York City. The Environmental Control Board of the City of New York evaluated whether an Airbnb rental of…
From time to time, our attorneys become aware of updates relating to matters that we have discussed in our blog posts. This week, we have three such cases in which there have been new developments. The Huguette Clark estate litigation has been the subject of a previous blog post .…
Observant Muslims in New York State who seek financing for the purchase of residential or commercial real estate may have issues with traditional mortgage loans. The reason for this is that, under traditional interpretations of Koranic law, the payment or receiving of interest is considered forbidden (“haram”). While a thorough…
The fiftieth anniversary of the March on Washington was recently acknowledged, celebrating the great civil rights battle for equality for our African-American citizens. More recently, same-sex couples have also been engaged in their own battle for equal treatment in issues such as the right to marry, taxation, health and pension…
Recent blog posts have discussed the legal ramifications of the use of performance enhancing drugs (“PED’s”) by baseball players, especially as it relates to Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez. Several recent developments regarding these issues have raised a new legal point, a discussion of which may be helpful to our blog…
An appraisal is an objective determination of valuation of an object or property. Lenders require an appraisal before the loan is funded at closing. If a purchaser is obtaining a loan for $400,000.00 and the purchase price is $500,000.00, then the lender will not fund the loan unless the appraiser…
New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez (hereinafter “A-Rod”) was recently suspended for 211 games by Major League Baseball for his involvement with performance-enhancing drugs. However, as of this writing, A-Rod is currently playing third base for the Yankees. Why is this? The reason is that the collective bargaining agreement between…
Our firm recently litigated a case in which another company admitted to infringing on the trade name of our client. A trademark is a name, symbol or other design used to identify goods or services used in commerce. An example would be “Coca-Cola” for soft drinks. To legally protect a…
Many of us have seen the slick advertisements on television for reverse mortgages. An actor who is popular with our seniors will advocate the advertiser’s reverse mortgage program as a way to tap home equity and enjoy the “good life”, the long awaited vacation or purchase of a new car…