| Helmsley Corp. v Porvo |
| 2022 NY Slip Op 50639(U) [75 Misc 3d 1222(A)] |
| Decided on April 20, 2022 |
| Civil Court Of The City Of New York, Bronx County |
| Zellan, J. |
| 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| This opinion is uncorrected and will not be published in the printed Official Reports. |
Helmsley Corp.,
Claimant,
against Daniel Porvo and LUSSY CASTILLO DE PORRO, Defendant. |
After a Hearing, the Order of the Court is as follows:
Upon the Court's own motion pursuant to CCA § 1805(b) and CPLR 602, this action is transferred to the Housing Part, and consolidated with Helmsley Corp. v. Daniel Porro, et al., Index No. LT-305426-22/BX (the "Housing Court Action"), which appears to be an action between the same purported landlord and tenants that raise similar issues of outstanding rent, right of possession, and possible eviction as raised in the instant action pending in the Small Claims Part (the "Small Claims Action"). Specifically, in the Small Claims Action, claimant-landlord is seeking to enforce an alleged agreement dated February 18, 2020 that purports to resolve a prior action in Housing Court, Helmsley Corp. v. Daniel Porro et al., Index No. LT-309646-20/BX (the "Prior Housing Court Action").[FN1] Under the terms of this purported contract, which tenants deny signing, claimant-landlord agreed to discontinue the Prior Housing Court Action in exchange for defendant-tenants' agreement to vacate the apartment by May 31, 2020, and in the event they failed to vacate by said date, they would be responsible for what is essentially a penalty rent of an additional $1000 per month, which defendants-tenants would owe retroactively for the period December 2019 to date. For reasons that are unclear to this Court, this agreement, which purportedly resolves the Prior Housing Court Action, was not filed in [*2]connection with that Prior Housing Court Action. Instead, the Prior Housing Court Action was disposed of by a notice of discontinuance filed on January 21, 2022, rather than by the apparent stipulation of settlement.
As the subject agreement purports to resolve the Prior Housing Court Action, claimant's effort to enforce said agreement should be brought before the court that oversaw that Prior Housing Court Action. Moreover, the issues in the Small Claims Action necessarily require the interpretation of an agreement that concerns the continued occupation and rent obligations of the subject tenants, and claimant has filed and currently has pending in Housing Court, an action that presumably raises similar issues of rent obligations, rights to possession and/or eviction between these same parties regarding the same apartment. Whatever impact the current Housing Court Action may have upon the enforceability of the purported settlement agreement, if any, these issues are better left to the Housing Court.
Pursuant to CCA § 1805(b), "the Court is empowered to transfer any small claim or claims to any other part of the court upon such terms as the rules may provide, and proceed to hear the same according to the usual practice and procedure applicable to other parts of the court."
Accordingly, for the foregoing reasons, it is:
ORDERED that this action is consolidated with Helmsley Corp. v. Daniel Porro et al., Index LT-305426-22/BX;
ORDERED that the clerk is directed to transfer the Court file for this action to the Housing Part;
This constitutes the Decision and Order of the Court.