New York Court of Appeals, 1983

Matinzi v. Joy

New York Court of Appeals · Decided November 1, 1983

60 N.Y.2d 835; 458 N.E.2d 372; 470 N.Y.S.2d 131; 1983 N.Y. LEXIS 3507

Cases that cite this one

27 later published cases cite this decision. The 25 that cite it most often are listed here.

Geller v. Delta Air Lines, Inc. (District Court, S.D. New York 1989)
Merwest Realty Corp. v. Prager (Civil Court of the City of New York 1997)
Childs v. Levitt (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1989)
Matter of Donmartin v. New York City Hous. Auth. (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2020)
Matter of State of New York v. Public Employment (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2016)
Rogers v. Malik (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2015)
HSBC Bank USA, N.A. v. Wielgus (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2015)
Whitted v. New York City Housing Authority (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2013)
Whitted v. New York City Housing Authority (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2013)
DiCarlo v. Beacway Operating, LLC (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2011)
SAP V/ATLAS 845 WEA Associates NF LLC v. Jannelli (Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York 2010)
Arkansas Leasing Co. v. Gabriel (Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York 2004)
Kamco Supply Corp. v. Annex Contracting, Inc. (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1999)
Merwest Realty Corp. v. Prager (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1999)
Grasso v. Matarazzo (Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York 1999)
Calavano v. New York City Health & Hospitals Corp. (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1998)
Merwest Realty Corp. v. Prager (Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York 1998)
Garcia v. New York State Division of Housing & Community Renewal (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1996)
1420 Concourse Corp. v. Cruz (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1991)
Wright v. Brockett (New York Supreme Court 1991)
Geraghty v. Reilly (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1987)
1420 Concourse Corp. v. Cruz (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1987)
Sigety v. Axelrod (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1985)
Cashmere Realty Corp. v. New York City Division of Housing & Community Renewal (New York Supreme Court 1985)
437 Palisade Avenue Realty Corp. v. Boyd (Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York 1984)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

OPINION OF THE COURT

Memorandum.

The order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed, with costs.

In 1979, the Office of Rent Control ordered petitioner’s apartment decontrolled. No appeal was taken from this order. In 1982, petitioner challenged the 1979 order of decontrol, alleging that it had been procured by fraud. This challenge was dismissed by the district rent director. While an administrative appeal from this determination was pending, the landlord brought a dispossess action in Civil Court. Despite the pendency of the administrative proceeding, petitioner, who was represented by counsel, entered into a comprehensive stipulation with the landlord whereby he withdrew his answer with prejudice and agreed to surrender possession. The stipulation was “So Ordered” by the court. The deputy commissioner subsequently affirmed the order of the district rent director, and petitioner brought this article 78 proceeding, seeking annulment of the decontrol of his apartment.

A stipulation may be set aside because of fraud, collusion, mistake, accident or other such ground (see Matter of Frutiger, 29 NY2d 143, 150), but no such showing was made.* Petitioner was aware of the alleged fraud before he signed the stipulation, that being the basis for his challenge to the 1979 order of decontrol. Further, even if any ground had been established for setting aside the stipula*837tion, the appropriate vehicle would have been an application to the Civil Court seeking relief from its order. (Siegel, NY Practice, p 242.)

In view of the stipulation surrendering possession, there is no need to reach the request of the district rent director for a remand to determine issues of fraud in connection with the decontrol of petitioner’s apartment.

Chief Judge Cooke and Judges Jasen, Jones, Wachtler, Meyer, Simons and Kaye concur.

On review of submissions pursuant to rule 500.2 (b) of the Rules of the Court of Appeals (22 NYCRR 500.2 [g]), order affirmed, with costs,'in a memorandum.

While section 17 of the City Rent and Eviction Regulations voids any agreement whereby a tenant waives the benefit of the rent law (see Estro Chem. Co. v Falk, 303 NY 83), this section does not prohibit an agreement to surrender possession of the apartment and resolve incidental differences.

Case-law data current through September 30, 2026. Source: CourtListener bulk data.