News

William Gartland, a partner in the Firm’s Corporate and Business practice group, represented a privately held global apparel manufacturer in the acquisition of a private label apparel company designing/selling women’s and juniors’ sleepwear, leisurewear, robes, daywear and innerwear for brands including Disney®, Nickelodeon®, Warner Bros®, Harry Potter®, Star Wars® and others.

Giuseppe Franzella of the Firm’s Litigation practice group has been appointed as the President-Elect of the Federal Bar Association’s Eastern District of New York Chapter. The EDNY Chapter has been serving federal practitioners of Long Island and the New York City Metropolitan Area since February 2007 and holds CLE programs, activities and social events to bring the Chapter together to educate attorneys and foster camaraderie and professional relationships amongst colleagues of the bar and the bench.

Robin S. Abramowitz of the Firm’s Litigation Practice Group successfully settled with the Town Assessor after filing a petition to strike from the client’s tax bill over $12,000 of real estate taxes re-levied based on the loss of the Veteran’s exemption.  The re-levy of taxes was retroactively applied by the Town for more than the immediately preceding year  in violation of the Real Property Law. The matter was handled on a pro bono basis when a senior citizen received notice of the re-levy of taxes in excess of $12,000 which would have caused her to default on the payment of her real estate tax bill.

Robin S. Abramowitz of the Firm’s Litigation Practice Group was successful on motions in two separate proceedings for a declaration that upon the termination of a leasehold interest that the leasehold mortgage ceased to exist and all rights and interests of the mortgagee under the leasehold mortgage were extinguished.

Robin S. Abramowitz of the Firm’s Litigation Practice Group was successful on plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment where defendant opposed the motion on the basis that it was constructively evicted and that there was no agreement as to the amount of use and occupancy. The court found that (i) plaintiff made a prima facie showing of entitlement to judgment for rent, use and occupancy, real estate taxes and late fees in the form of business records; (ii) defendant failed to raise any triable issues of fact as the plaintiff’s submission established defendant remained in possession beyond the lease term; and (iii) for the recovery of use and occupancy there is an implied continuance of the tenancy on the same terms and subject to the same covenants as contained in the original lease.

Matt Lamstein and Tara Primis of the Firm’s Real Estate Practice Group closed the sale of a 76 unit residential townhome complex in North Charleston, South Carolina at a purchase price of $6,840,000.00. Mr. Lamstein and Ms. Primis represented the Seller on the sale and like-kind exchange structure and transactions. The transaction involved the successful disposition of the property for a client who had purchased the same less than two (2) years ago.