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Khaner v Gavin
2006 NY Slip Op 50690(U) [11 Misc 3d 141(A)]
Decided on April 21, 2006
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This opinion is uncorrected and will not be published in the printed Official Reports.


Decided on April 21, 2006
APPELLATE TERM OF THE SUPREME COURT, FIRST DEPARTMENT

PRESENT: Davis, J.P., Schoenfeld, J.
570214/05

Jeffrey M. Khaner, Franco Lazzari and Daniele Kucera, Petitioners-Landlords-Appellants,

against

Gordon Gavin, Respondent-Tenant-Respondent, John Doe and Jane Doe, Respondents-Undertenants.


Landlords appeal from a final judgment of the Civil Court, New York County (Peter M. Wendt, J.), entered November 23, 2004, after a nonjury trial, which dismissed the petition in an owner occupancy holdover proceeding.


PER CURIAM:

Final judgment (Peter M. Wendt, J.), entered November 23, 2004, affirmed, with $25 costs, for the reasons stated by Peter M. Wendt, J. at Civil Court.

Based upon the trial court's credibility findings, to which we defer, the first-named petitioner-landlord failed to establish the requisite good faith to recover tenant's rent-stabilized duplex apartment for personal use as his primary residence (Rent Stabilization Code [9 NYCRR] § 2524.4(a)[1]). A fair interpretation of the record evidence, including the landlord's own deposition testimony, supports the court's express finding that landlord, even if successful in recovering tenant's apartment, would continue to work as a symphonic musician in Philadelphia and to maintain his primary residence in a brownstone apartment building that he owns there. "Civil Court, having observed the witnesses' demeanor and heard their testimony, was in a better position to make findings of fact on the issue of good faith, especially as the issue rested in large measure on considerations relating to the credibility of witnesses" (Powers v Babic, 177 AD2d 432 [1991]).

This constitutes the decision and order of the court.

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Decision Date: April 21, 2006