Appellate Practice

Tax Certiorari & Condemnation – Appellate Practice – Prior Negative Declarations Support Long, Hard Look

As part of their work, Tax Certiorari and Condemnation lawyers must understand environmental issues and their impact on a property’s valuation. Representing Westchester Joint Water Works (WJWW), Stephen Davis successfully upheld WJWW’s condemnation against attack from an alleged failure of WJWW to undertake adequate environmental considerations. Exercising its original jurisdiction, the Appellate Division sustained the argument that WJWW properly relied upon three prior negative declarations for the affected subdivision in discharging WJWW’s obligation to take and consider the required long, hard look at the project’s effect upon the environment.

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Herlitz-Ferguson v. Herlitz-Ferguson, 48 A.D.3d 418, 851 N.Y.S.2d 272 (2d Dep’t 2008)

Dolores Gebhardt

Matrimonial & Family Law – Appellate Practice – Decision Relieving Client of Payments for Additional Child Support & Private School

Child support obligations are often a contested issue in divorce actions and the work of our matrimonial lawyers. Here, the parties had a separation agreement that required Dolores Gebhardt‘s client to pay 31% of his income toward his child support obligations upon finding employment; and obligated the plaintiff wife to be solely responsible for paying for the children’s extracurricular, health insurance and medical expenses. However, the lower court ruled against Dolores Gebhardt‘s client. The Appellate Division, Second Department, reversed the lower court ruling, finding that the trial court had erred in directing Dolores’ client to pay 48% of statutory add-ons and to contribute 30% of private school tuition and costs for the parties’ two daughters.

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Molloy v. Molloy, 33 A.D.3d 892, 823 N.Y.S.2d 209 (2d Dep’t 2006).

Dolores Gebhardt

Matrimonial & Family Law – Appellate Practice – Divorce on Ground of Abandonment Denied

McCarthy Fingar’s lawyers are leaders in the legal community, and our Matrimonial & Family Law lawyers have been strong proponents of no-fault divorce. In fact, Judge Sondra M. Miller was an influential voice in the passage, in 2010, of the new no-fault divorce law. In Molloy, Dolores Gebhardt’s client was denied a divorce on the ground of abandonment. The decision became the basis for Dolores Gebhardt’s article on the law of abandonment entitled, “Justice Abandoned: Forty Years of Stalemate in Actions for Divorce on the Ground of Abandonment” 27 Pace Law Review 605 (2007).

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Davis v. Willinger, 31 A.D.3d 429 (2d Dep’t 2006)

Surrogate’s Court Litigation – Appellate Practice – Post Nuptial Agreement Contest – Replacing Condo Unit Triggers Ademption

Our lawyers represent clients on dispute on prenuptial and post nuptial agreements. Here, in a declaratory judgment action involving an esoteric point of law, Stephen Davis and Joel M. Aurnou achieved an abatement of a surviving spouse’s contract with her husband to bequeath the proceeds of sale of the couple’s Miami Beach oceanfront condominium residence to her late husband’s daughter. Applying the ademption concept, the trial court – unanimously affirmed by the appellate court – ruled that the promise to bequeath pertained only to the condominium owned by the couple at the time of the promise, notwithstanding that they replaced their original condominium with another in the very same Collins Avenue condominium building.

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Keiser v. Todd, 290 A.D.2d 492, 736 N.Y.S.2d 255 (2d Dep’t 2005)

Appellate Practice – Commercial Litigation – Real Estate Transactions – Option to Purchase Real Estate

If a dispute as to a real estate transaction cannot be settled, lawyers need skill and experience to win a case in court. In this matter, Robert H. Rosh successfully defended our client at both the lower court and appellate levels, in an action brought by a tenant to enforce a purported option to purchase our client’s real property. Rob moved for, and obtained, an order dismissing the tenant’s complaint. In support of its dismissal, the court held that the draft option agreement between the parties did not identify the property to be conveyed with sufficient particularity to satisfy New York’s Statute of Frauds, General Obligations Law §5-703(2), and was therefore unenforceable.

Following our client’s victory, the tenant refused to vacate the premises and Rob successfully pursued on our client’s behalf a proceeding that resulted in the eviction of the tenant from the premises.

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Frankel v. Ford Leasing Dev. Co., 7 A.D.3d 757, 776 N.Y.S.2d 905 (2d Dep’t 2004)

Commercial Litigation – Appellate Practice – Statute of Frauds on Real Estate Transaction

Our lawyers defend clients on unwarranted lawsuits for enforcement of alleged contracts. Here, Robert H. Rosh successfully defended an action that was brought against his client for specific performance of a contract to sell real property. Rob moved for and was awarded summary judgment dismissing the action. On appeal, the lower court’s decision was affirmed, finding that the parties never had a meeting of the minds, and that the documents which had been relied upon by the plaintiff in support of his claim had omitted essential terms of a contract; and, thus, the claim was barred under the statute of frauds. The appellate court also found that the actions taken by the plaintiff were not unequivocally referable to a contract of sale so as to constitute part performance sufficient to defeat the statute of frauds, and were merely steps taken in contemplation of a future agreement.

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Amari v. Molloy, NYLJ 8/8/00, p. 23, col. 5 (Kings County Sup. Ct. 2000), aff’d, 293 A.D.2d 431 (2d Dep’t 2002)

Matrimonial & Family Law – Appellate Practice – Child Custody

Sometimes, child custody issues cannot be resolved by the parties without a trial. In this case, Kathleen Donelli persuaded the trial court and appellate court to award child custody to her client.

Papadopolous v. Goldstein, Goldstein & Rikon, P.C., 283 A.D.2d 649, 725 N.Y.S.2d 364 (2d Dep’t 2001), appeal denied, 97 N.Y.2d 677

Commercial Litigation – Appellate Practice – Attorney Fee Dispute

In this case, Robert H. Rosh and Robert M. Redis successfully represented two (2) individuals at both the lower court and appellate levels in a fee dispute with their former counsel involving a condemnation proceeding. The dispute arose after the individuals discharged their former counsel and negotiated a sale of their properties on their own. The court held that the individuals had the right to settle their case on their own, and that their former counsel were only entitled to recover in quantum meruit for the legal services rendered to the individuals in connection with the condemnation proceeding.

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Matter of Marsh, 265 A.D.2d 253 (1st Dep’t 1999), app. denied, 95 N.Y.2d 755 (2000), app. dismissed, 95 N.Y.2d 956 (2000), cert. denied, 532 U.S. 1038, 121 S. Ct. 1999, 149 L.Ed.2d 1002 (2001)

Surrogate’s Court Litigation – Appellate Practice – Contested Accountings

Our lawyers often represent beneficiaries in contested accountings of executors and trustees. In one such case, Frank W. Streng and Robert M. Redis succeeded at the trial court level and obtained a surcharge against a former executor in excess of $1.6 million and an award of attorneys fees against that former fiduciary in the amount of $250,000. Bob and Frank then succeeded in upholding the Surrogate’s Court’s determinations on all appeals.

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Hudson Communities Coalition, Inc. v. New York State Office Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation, 251 A.D.2d 504, 673 N.Y.S.2d 595 (2d Dep’t 1998)

Commercial Litigation – Appellate Practice – Article 78 Proceeding – Nursing Home

Our lawyers represent clients in disputes over different types of real estate matters. Here, Robert H. Rosh and Robert M. Redis intervened on behalf of St. John’s Riverside Hospital and successfully defended it in the lower court in an Article 78 proceeding, and on an appeal to the Appellate Division, Second Department. In this case, a coalition sought to overturn certain administrative determinations as to the siting and design of St. John’s proposed nursing home facility in Yonkers, New York.

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Matter of Marsh, 236 A.D.2d 404 (2d Dep’t 1997)

Surrogate’s Court Litigation – Appellate Practice – Will & Trust Contests

McCarthy Fingar often represents clients in Will & Trust Contests. Frank W. Streng, as counsel to the named executor, successfully defended against objections to the filing of a Codicil to the Decedent’s Will. At trial, a jury upheld the Codicil to the Decedent’s Will and threw out objections made to such Codicil by one family member. On appeal, we persuaded the Appellate Division, Second Depatment, to uphold the trial judge’s refusal to set aside the jury verdict.

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Tropea v. Tropea, 87 N.Y.2d 727, 665 N.E.2d 145, 642 N.Y.S.2d 575 (1996)

Matrimonial & Family Law – Appellate Practice – Child Relocation

Custody of minor children is sometimes an issue that continues after the parents obtain their divorce and have reached agreement on visitation issues. Sometimes, the custodial parent seeks to change his or her location, and the noncustodial parent cries foul and seeks to prevent or oppose that relocation. In Tropea, Kathleen Donelli prevailed in a child relocation case in New York’s highest court, the New York State Court of Appeals. Tropea established the prevailing law in New York on relocation.

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Frayne v. Frayne, 234 A.D.2d 545 (2d Dep’t 1996)

Matrimonial & Family Law – Appellate Practice – Child Relocation

One of the most satisfying things our Matrimonial & Family Law lawyers do is to get a favorable outcome for a client on a child custody issue. Kathleen Donelli won the landmark New York State Court of Appeals decision on child relocation in Tropea v. Tropea, and has frequently lectured on child relocation issues. In a child relocation case, Kathleen successfully persuaded the Appellate Division, Second Deparment, to permit her client, the custodial parent, to relocate.

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1185 Avenue of the Americas Associates v. The Resolution Trust Corp.

Commercial Litigation – Appellate Practice – Landlord/Tenant Issues

After prevailing in the Federal District Court, Kathleen Donelli successfully convinced the US Court of Appeals, for the Second Circuit, to affirm the District Court’s denial of landlord’s claim for $7 million in unpaid rent.

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Route 22 Associates v. Cipes, 204 A.D.2d 705 (2d Dep’t 1994)

Commercial Litigation – Appellate Practice – Real Estate Easements

Having prevailed in the lower court, Kathleen Donelli persuaded the Appellate Division, Second Department to affirmed the trial court’s decision, declaring the validity of an easement.

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Lefkowitz v. The Bank of New York as Preliminary Executor of Estate of Irene B. Marsh et al., 996 F.2d 600 (2d Cir. 1993)

Howell Bramson

Surrogate’s Court Litigation – Appellate Practice – Taxation – Spousal Consent – Challenge of Beneficiary Designation on Qualified Plan

Our lawyers often represent clients in dealing with beneficiary designations on pension and qualified plans. In one such case, Howell Bramson, Robert M. Redis and other lawyers at the firm successfully represented a surviving spouse’s estate and persuaded the lower court to invalidate a beneficiary designation on a qualified plan for the Decedent’s child (to the exclusion of the decedent’s spouse) on the grounds that the beneficiary designation violated the spousal consent rules under ERISA. The trial court’s determination was upheld, on appeal, by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeal also deal with significant legal questions, such as the applicability of ERISA to controlled foreign corporations and whether these sufficiently implicated the Interstate Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution.

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Matter of Marsh, 173 A.D.2d 336 (1st Dep’t 1991), app. dismissed, 78 N.Y.2d 990, mot. for lv. to appeal denied, 79 N.Y.2d 751

Surrogate’s Court Litigation – Appellate Practice – Fiduciary Removal – Business Issues

Our lawyers often represent beneficiaries that suffer financial injury through improper actions of executors and trustees. Here, Frank W. Streng represented a beneficiary at a trial to obtain the removal of a preliminary executor who had acted improperly in the administration of the estate. The removed fiduciary appealed, and Frank and other McCarthy Fingar lawyers, Robert M. Redis and Deborah Yurchuck McCarthy, successfully persuaded the appellate court to affirm the trial court’s decision to remove the fiduciary.

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Matter of Hickok, 140 Misc. 2d 650 (Surr. Ct., Orange 1989), affirmed, 158 A.D.2d 690 (2d Dep’t 1990), mot. for lv. to appeal denied, 76 N.Y.2d 712

Surrogate’s Court Litigation – Appellate Practice –Contested Accountings – Interpretation of Decedent’s Will

Often, there are issues on the interpretation of a Decedent’s Will that can have large effect on the Decedent’s testamentary plan. In this case, Frank W. Streng, and other lawyers at the firm represented children of a Decedent’s first marriage in litigation against the Decedent’s surviving spouse where the surviving spouse sought (unsuccessfully) to obtain an interpretation of her husband’s Will which would have effectively excluded the Decedent’s children as beneficiaries under the Will. The other side appealed, and the appelate court affirmed the lower court ruling.

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Jaffer v. Miles, 134 A.D.2d 572 (2d Dep’t 1987)

Commercial Litigation – Appellate Practice – Real Estate Contract

In this case, Kathleen Donelli persuaded the Appellate Division, Second Department to reverse the trial court’s denial of summary judgment to seller, finding that the memorandum between the seller and purchaser was not an enforceable contract.

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Southern Westchester Associates v. Assessor of City of Yonkers, 122 A.D.2d 212 (2d Dep’t 1986)

Tax Certiorari & Condemnation – Appellate Practice – Cooperative Apartment Conversion Valued By Imputing Rental Value

Tax Certiorari and Condemnation cases almost always involve the use of experts to establish value. Here, Stephen Davis successfully used an expert to establish rental value for apartments in a cooperative apartment buildling conversion as part of the capitalization of income process. At the taxpayer’s behest, the court applied a remedial statute designed to avoid use of sales prices for each unit, the effect of which would make the sum of the parts worth more than the whole, i.e., worth more than a neighboring similar apartment building. Instead, the rental value, rather than the so-called conversion value, was considered to be the best measure of value. Then, Steve convinced the Appellate Division to affirm the lower court ruling.

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Matter of McKinney, 117 Misc. 2d 173 (Surr. Ct., Westchester 1982), affirmed, 101 A.D.2d 477 (2d Dep’t 1984), mot. for lv. to appeal denied, 63 N.Y.2d 607

Surrogate’s Court Litigation – Appellate Practice – Taxation – Interpretation of Decedent’s Will – Allocation of Estate Taxes

Sometimes, the tax apportionment clause – an often overlooked clause in a will – has a huge impact on the actual distributions under a will. In this case, Frank W. Streng and others at the firm successfully represented a major health care institution in a contested accouting proceeding in which we challenged the executors’ interpretation of the decedent’s tax apportionment clause in her Will. The charitable beneficiary would have been deprived of hundreds of thousands of dollars of its proper share of a multi-million dollar estate had the executors’ interpretation been adopted. The lower court opinion was affirmed by the appellate court.

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Sear, Roebuck & Co. v. Assessor of City of White Plains, 66 A.D.2d 777 (2d Dep’t 1978)

Tax Certiorari & Condemnation – Appellate Practice – User Owned Building Valued By Rental Value, Not Cost

The valuation technique used by Tax Certiorari & Condemnation lawyers is the key to success or failure of their cases. Here, Stephen Davis successfully obtained a tax assessment reduction for property owned by the user department store permitted by capitalizing rental value. He did so through the use of expert testimony on rental values, rather than employing a cumbersome reconstruction cost methodology that would have likely resulted in a higher valuation for the client’s property. Steve then won on the appeal.

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Almar Realty Corp. v. Sockolof Bros., 35 A.D.2d 986 (2d Dep’t 1970), aff’d, 29 N.Y.2d 735 (1971)

Commercial Litigation – Appellate Practice – Landlord/Tenant – Tax Base Mutual Ignorance Fails To Support Reformation

Stephen Davis and Joel M. Aurnou prevailed in a reformation action by distinguishing mutual ignorance from mutual mistake of fact. The result was their client’s warehouse tenant paying a real estate tax escalation rental over a base of a vacant land assessment and not against a base assessment of the completed warehouse building.

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Ercolani v. Sam & Al Realty Co., 17 N.Y.2d 299 (1966)