| Hudson St. Equities Group, Inc. v Escoffier |
| 2005 NY Slip Op 51609(U) [9 Misc 3d 132(A)] |
| Decided on October 5, 2005 |
| Appellate Term, First Department |
| Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. |
| This opinion is uncorrected and will not be published in the printed Official Reports. |
Tenant appeals from an order of the Civil Court, New York County, dated April 22, 2004 after a hearing (Jerald R. Klein, J.) which denied tenant's motion for attorneys' fees in this holdover summary proceeding.
PER CURIAM:
Order dated April 22, 2004 (Jerald R. Klein, J.) reversed, without costs, and the matter remanded to Civil Court for a new hearing on the issue of attorney's fees.
Since tenant was awarded a possessory judgment in this illegal sublet holdover proceeding (Hudson Street Equities Group, Inc. V Escoffier, 2003 NY Slip Op 51213[U] [App Term, 1st Dept]), tenant is the prevailing party entitled to attorneys' fees under the lease provision (RPL
§ 234). While the court determined that tenant's claim for attorney's fees was unsubstantiated in light of tenant's failure to produce a witness from his former lawyer's office, tenant produced itemized attorneys' bills corresponding to the ongoing litigation activity. In the circumstances, we exercise our discretion and remand the matter to enable tenant, now self-represented, to produce a witness from his former lawyer's office or to otherwise establish the reasonable value [*2]of his counsel fees.
This constitutes the decision and order of the court.
Decision Date: October 05, 2005