Real Estate Litigation

Although contracts are to be construed in accordance with the parties’ intent, in New York, it is firmly established that the best evidence of what parties intend is what they say in writing. This rule is applied with special force when the agreement is negotiated at arm’s length or by sophisticated business people. Sometimes, parties

In real estate agency relationships, an agent owes its client, a buyer or seller of property, fiduciary duties, including duties of undivided loyalty, reasonable care, and confidentiality. Due to the increasing number of large brokerage firms, “dual agency” deals have become commonplace. A dual agency occurs when an agent represents the buyer and the seller

Ordinarily in real estate sales, the seller’s pre-closing representations do not survive the closing unless the contract expressly states that they do. The situation is different, however, when the seller has made a pre-closing representation about a then-existing fact, like whether the tenants are current in rent. That was the state of facts alleged by

A recent decision from Westchester Commercial Division Justice Linda Jamieson addressed two issues that arise in commercial landlord-tenant relationships: (i) whether a landlord can pierce the corporate veil to hold a tenant’s corporate representative liable under leases; and (ii) the timeliness of claims for past due rent.

Piercing the Corporate Veil

In Hoffman Investors Corp.,