Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York, 1986

Maplewood Management, Inc. v. Best

Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York · Decided September 18, 1986

133 Misc. 2d 769; 509 N.Y.S.2d 449; 1986 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2946

Counsel

APPEARANCES OF COUNSEL, Stanford A. Schwartz and Victor Mevorah for appellant. Leonard S. Clark and Edward Luban for respondent.

Opinion of the Court

OPINION OF THE COURT

Memorandum.

Final judgment unanimously modified by striking the award of attorney’s fees, and, as so modified, affirmed, without costs.

Real Property Law § 234 confers upon a tenant a reciprocal right to recover reasonable legal fees "incurred” if the lease permits the landlord to recover legal fees as against the tenant. In the instant case, the tenant was represented by a publicly funded legal services organization and was not required to pay for the legal services rendered. Since the term "incurred” means that the party is liable for the expense (see, Rubin v Empire Mut. Ins. Co., 25 NY2d 426), the tenant did not incur legal fees within the meaning of said section.

Di Paola, P. J., Slifkin and Widlitz, JJ., concur.

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