Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. Fall 2019 Newsletter

1. FALL 2019 (212) 825-0365
ADAM LEITMAN BAILEY, P.C.
WWW.ALBLAWFIRM.COM
Read more online at
alblawfirm.com/trailblazer
In May 2019, attorney and partner Carolyn
Rualo, of Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C., was
named a Trailblazer by the New York Law
Journal. She has been recognized for her
unconventional approaches in handling
complex landlord-tenant negotiations with
the New York City Department of Housing
Preservation and Development and has been
acknowledged for her innovative and forehand-
ed outlook on the upcoming rent regulation
reform. Congratulations Carolyn!
PIONEER SPIRIT
Carolyn Rualo, a partner in the land-
lord-tenant group at Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C.
often negotiates on a client’s behalf directly
with the New York City Department of Housing
Preservation and Development. It’s faster –
and usually more effective, – than rushing to
a judge for a temporary restraining order and
then trying to settle a dispute in court. The
direct approach, however, can be tougher than
litigation. “It’s not an easy thing to get a city
employee – or the right city employee – on the
phone. Part of the art is getting in front of the
right people, then communicating your cause
quickly.”
TRAILS BLAZED
Rualoleanstowardunconventionalapproach-
es whenever possible. That’s how she helped
a client, the owner of half a dozen apartment
buildings heated by a single boiler. A malfunc-
tion left the buildings without heat or hot water.
The city said it would send its own contrac-
tor to perform emergency repairs, but the city
contractor’s fees could have been three times
the market rate. Rualo made her case over
the phone to the city employee overseeing the
latter, pointing out that her client had already
started the repairs which would be completed
shortly. The city backed down. “It can save my
client a good amount of money in ligation later.”
FUTURE EXPLORATIONS
Rualo is gearing up for major
reform in the state’s rent
regulation laws, due out this
summer. Currently a landlord
can invest in major capital...
CAROLYN Z. RUALO NAMED
TRAILBLAZER
LANDLORD & TENANT/HPD
In the practice of real estate law today, very
few legal issues are getting as much attention
and at the same time being applied incorrectly
by practitioners as anticipatory repudiation (or
breach) of contract. To test this thesis, we ran
a Westlaw search using the search term “antic-
ipatory repudiation in the real property practice
area,” and, since 2008, 30 decisions have been
rendered compared with a total of 58 decisions
from 1920–2007. This article attempts to deliv-
er the rules of anticipatory repudiation and to
discard the myths and mistruths.
This is tricky legal territory. Whether a party
has anticipatorily breached the contract is not
always easy to determine, and, in some cases,
the tables may be turned with the court dismiss-
ing a party’s allegations of anticipatory breach
by the other party to the contract, but finding
instead that it was the party’s own conduct that
constituted a prior anticipatory repudiation of
the contract, thereby entitling judgment to be
entered in favor of its adversary. The judgment
in each case is more often based upon the
specific facts of the matter and not solely upon
the elements prescribed by law.
ANTICIPATORY BREACH DEFINED
As the New York Court of Appeals has
succinctly stated, “An anticipatory breach of
contract by a promisor is a repudiation of [a]
contractual duty before the time fixed in the
contract for…performance has arrived.” Princes
Point LLC v. Muss Dev. LLC, 30 N.Y.3d 127, 133
(2017). Clearly, an “anticipatory” breach cannot
be committed by a party already in materi-
al breach of an executory contract. See, e.g.,
Kaplan v. Madison Park Group
Owners, LLC, 94 AD3d 616,
618, 942 NYS2d 522, 524 (1st
Dept. 2012)...
ANTICIPATORY REPUDIATION OR BREACH OF CONTRACTS: THE RULES
AND TRUTHS
John Desiderio
LANDLORD & TENANT
Read more online at
alblawfirm.com/anticipatory-
repudiation
Read more online at
alblawfirm.com/current-state-
of-attorneys-fees
Arecent decision of the Appellate Division,
First Department, Krodel v. Amalgamated
Dwellings, Inc., 166 A.D.3d 412, 88 N.Y.S.3d
31 (2018) inspires us to reexamine New York’s
doctrine about recovering attorneys fees in liti-
gation. Krodel itself explores a corner of the
“American Rule” that holds that one cannot
recover attorneys fees from an adversary in
litigation absent an authorizing statute, rule, or
contract and finds that under certain circum-
stances, contract provisions authorizing the
fees are unconscionable. With that boundary
point established, older case law fills in when
such contract clauses will receive enforcement.
AMERICAN RULE
Under the American Rule, “attorneys’ fees
and disbursements are incidents of litigation
and the prevailing party may not collect them
from the loser unless an award is authorized by
agreement between the parties or by statute or
court rule.” Matter of A.G. Ship Maintenance
Corp. v. Lezak, 69 N.Y.2d 1, 5, 503 N.E.2d 681,
511 N.Y.S.2d 216 (1986). In landlord tenant
litigation, one of the richest sources of attor-
neys’ fee law, some few statutes award attor-
neys fees in particularized situations, such as
RPL §227-d that awards such fees for hous-
ing discrimination against victims of domes-
tic violence; RPL §237-a awarding the fees to
victims of discrimination against children in
housing; and RPL §226-b awarding the fees
to a tenant when a landlord has unreasonably
withheld consent to a residential subletting.
The general attorneys fee provision in land-
lord tenant litigation is RPL §234 that reads
into the lease a right to attorneys fees when the
residential lease grants landlord such a right in
litigation with the tenant.
CENTRAL RELIEF
In Murphy v. Vivian Realty
Co...
THE CURRENT STATE OF ATTORNEYS FEES
Dov Treiman
LANDLORD & TENANT/DHCR

2. 2 FALL 2019 (212) 825-0365 3WE GET RESULTSWWW.ALBLAWFIRM.COM
ADAM LEITMAN BAILEY, P.C. NEW YORK REAL ESTATE ATTORNEYS
THE GREAT DEBATE: REAL ESTATE EXPERTS CLASH WITH POLITICIANS AT PANEL
LANDLORD REPRESENTATION
In 159 MP Corp. v. Redbridge Bedford, LLC,
— N.E.3d —-, 2019 WL 1995526 (N.Y.), 2019
N.Y. Slip Op. 03526, a monumental decision
that was issued last week, a sharply divided
(4-3) Court of Appeals ruled that a commercial
tenant waives the right to seek a Yellowstone
injunction where its lease contains a specific
waiver provision covering “declaratory judg-
ment actions.” For over half a century, the
Yellowstone injunction has served as the
commercial tenant’s most powerful sword when
faced with eviction, which, at least according to
the dissenting opinion in 159 MP Corp., may
now be totally eviscerated.
THE ‘YELLOWSTONE’ INJUNCTION
The Yellowstone injunction was espoused by
the Court of Appeals in First National Stores v.
Yellowstone Shopping Center, 21 N.Y.2d 630
(1968), which held that a commercial tenant
is entitled to a Yellowstone injunction where
the tenant: (1) holds a commercial lease; (2)
received from the landlord a
notice of default, a notice to
cure, or a threat of termination
of the lease...
BYE-BYE ‘YELLOWSTONE’?
In the next two weeks, state lawmakers are
expected to pass the most sweeping rent
regulation reform package in decades.
It has the city’s real estate industry pining for
the slightly older days, when Michael Bloomberg
held court at City Hall and the knives weren’t
out for multifamily landlords
At a Thursday morning rent regulation panel
discussion between industry players and local
politicians, Council member Mark Levine said it
was a myth that the progressive takeover of the
City Council in 2013 stifled development.
“Even the valuation of multifamily hous-
ing continues to be robust,” he said. “There’s
something to learn from all that, which is we
can be a fairer city and continue to prosper.”
Real estate attorney Adam Leitman Bailey
was blunt in his response.
“All of those things that Councilman Levine
mentioned are not the result of this mayor
or this council or this assembly,” he said to
applause. “They’re the result of the years of
Mayor Bloomberg and his administration. And
as much as this administration is trying to rip
those apart,” he continued, “we’re still hanging
on by tethers.”
Leitman Bailey also said the current set
of rent regulations, mostly passed between
1969 and 1974, are outdated. “The system is
broken,” he said. “The system is dangerous.
The system is a waste of time and money. It’s a
horrible system.”
The panel took place at the Harmonie Club,
with Marcus & Millichap’s Andrew Dansker
serving as moderator. Other panelists includ-
ed New York state Sen. Brian Benjamin, attor-
ney Susan Baumel-Cornicello and Marcus &
Millichap’s Shaun Riney.
The discussion was largely civil overall,
although Levine joked that he and Benjamin
showed up wearing bulletproof vests, and a
remark from Benjamin about how Republicans
had long been in control of the state Senate
was met with applause.
Benjamin, who worked at the real estate firm
Genesis before coming to the State Senate as
Jeffrey Metz, Colin Kaufman, Scott Pashman
and Thomas Furst, on behalf of Adam
Leitman Bailey, P.C., successfully resolved liti-
gation to enforce a commercial tenant’s right
of first refusal, achieving for its client in settle-
ment all the relief that could have been hoped
for had victory been obtained at trial.
The Firm’s client was the triple-net tenant of
a 3-story, mixed-use building in Manhattan’s
Bowery neighborhood since the year 2000,
where the client operated a restaurant furniture
supply business on the ground floor and resid-
ed with family members on the floors above.
The client’s lease contained a right of first
refusal clause which provided that, if the land-
lord accepted an offer to sell the building to a
purchaser during the lease term, the client had
the right to receive notice of the proposed sale
and the right to purchase for the gross purchase
price and on the same terms and conditions as
in the purchaser’s contract or offer.
In 2014, the landlord accepted an offer to sell
ADAM LEITMAN BAILEY, P.C. OBTAINS WINNING SETTLEMENT FOR
COMMERCIAL TENANT, ENFORCES RIGHT OF FIRST REFUSAL
REAL ESTATE LITIGATION
the building to a subsidiary of Thor Equities, an
international real estate development, leasing,
and management firm, for the price of $10.2
million. Instead of giving notice of the proposed
sale to the client, however, the landlord mistak-
enly gave notice to the prior building tenant
under a lease that had been surrendered back
in 2000. When the landlord’s error became
known to all parties, Thor refused to recognize
the client’s right of first refusal and used its
leverage to compel the landlord to close on the
sale of the building to Thor and to pay Thor $1
million of damages to settle Thor’s claims that
the landlord had breached the purchase and
sale agreement by failing to correctly identify
the building tenant.
Every case has bad facts, and this case was
no exception. In this case, the Court needed to
be persuaded that the client’s tenancy was not
invalidated by the fact that...
Read more online at alblawfirm.com/enforce-
rofr
ALBPC SUCCESSFULLY GETS CLIENT ELECTED TO CONDOMINIUM BOARD
Read more online at
alblawfirm.com/client-elected
CONDOMINIUM & COOPERATIVE
Upon purchasing and moving into a new
condominium in Westchester, New York, our
client began to recognize an array of controver-
sial actions being made by her condominium’s
board of managers. In particular, our client real-
ized that the original sponsor of the condomini-
um had been dominating and corrupting the
board of managers by bullying and intimidating
other board members and residents through-
out the years since the condominium’s incep-
tion. The bully sponsor harassed our client
during her move in, threatening legal action
over alleged condominium rule “violations,”
which did not actually apply and were otherwise
non-existent.
The firm successfully pushed back against
the sponsor’s legal threats against our client,
and also learned that the condominium had
not been following proper board election proce-
dures. We encouraged our client to run for elec-
tion herself in an attempt to restore order in the
board.
Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. attorney Rachel
Sigmund assisted in organizing support for
our client’s candidacy and despite the short
amount of time that the client had to ensure
that the election was properly conducted, with
Rachel’s guidance and expertise of condomini-
um governance, our client was elected to the
board and is now serving as Vice President. Her
election replaced the bully on the board who
decided not to run again after being frustrat-
ed by our client’s successful resistance to the
legal issues that board counsel had raised.
With our client’s new title of Vice-President
and having ALBPC behind her, our client is
beginning to address the condominium’s by-law
requirements that have been
ignored for years. She hopes
that her position will allow the
board and the condo’s gover-
nance to...
Our Client, a Fortune 500 company,
net-leased or leased an entire building
from their landlord. The tenant’s lease was
expiring on April 30th. The tenant had leases
with over two dozen sub-tenants and many of
them, despite having leases end before April
30th, had no intention to move out when the
lease ended. The tenant was in a quandary
because if they did not evict all of the tenants
by April 30th, they would have to pay heavy
fines to the landlord for the breach. Second,
none of the tenant’s subleases had any strong
default provisions incentivizing the sub-tenants
to vacate when the lease ended.
Against all odds, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C.
was hired to make sure that the building was
not only complexly vacant by April 30th, but
that the tenants spent the money to restore
the premises to its original condition, which
for a number of tenants would be a substantial
burden.
The challenges were plentiful. Although we
basically had little recourse against any tenant
LANDLORD REPRESENTATION
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: EVICTING OVER TWO DOZEN COMMERCIAL
TENANTS BY A DATE CERTAIN OR PAY A MASSIVE AMOUNT OF MONEYMassimo D'Angelo
staying past its term, one tenant had diplomat-
ic immunity which with the right tenant’s attor-
ney could do serious damage to the tenant of
record. At the same time, we did not want the
tenants to know we were desperate for them to
leave on time. We were friendly with the tenant
who had immunity’s attorney and explained to
him that we would have to run to court early
because of lease defaults and we were worried
about the tenant’s diplomatic immunity power.
As a result, the sub-tenant agreed to give us
a document that would allow a warrant to be
served in early April and executed on April 30th.
This chain of events was a result of having a
good reputation in the industry, our straight
forward and respectful relationship with the
colleague attorney representing the tenants,
and a lot of luck.
Some of the other tenants smelled money
and a lot of it, and they wanted a payout. We let
it be known that not one dollar would be paid...
a Democrat, repeatedly straddled the fence,
saying tenants had to be protected from
dramatic rent hikes, but also wanted to ensure
that landlords were incentivized to invest in
their buildings.
He also spoke of bad optics...
ALBPC HAS MORE FEMALE “RISING
STARS” THAN ANY OTHER NEW
YORK METRO AREA REAL ESTATE
LAW FIRM
RANKINGS, HONORS & AWARDS
Read more
online at
alblawfirm.
com/more-
female-
rising-stars
Read more online at alblawfirm.com/evicts-
dozens
REAL ESTATE LITIGATION
Read more online at
alblawfirm.com/bye-bye-
yellowstone
AMONG THE HIGHEST RATED FIRMS
WITH FEWER THAN 30 ATTORNEYS
RANKINGS, HONORS & AWARDS
Read more online at alblawfirm.com/real-
estate-world-clashes
Above: Bailey seated between State Senator,
Brian Benjamin (left) and City Councilman, Mark
Levine (right)

3. 4 FALL 2019 (212) 825-0365 5WE GET RESULTSWWW.ALBLAWFIRM.COM
ADAM LEITMAN BAILEY, P.C. NEW YORK REAL ESTATE ATTORNEYS
In the state of New York a New York Mortgage
Recording tax is due and payable on each
mortgage transaction both for purchases and
refinances. The mortgage tax rate varies from
county to county. In the five boroughs of New
York City the rate is 1.8% on mortgage amounts
under $500,000.00 and 1.925% on mortgage
amounts above $500,000.00. For refinances,
and sometimes on purchases, since the borrow-
er has already paid the tax on the outstanding
mortgage balance, the state of New York allows
Consolidation, Extension and Modification
Agreements (“CEMA”) which allows the borrow-
er to save a portion of or all of the New York State
mortgage tax by only requiring the borrower to
pay mortgage tax on the difference between
the new loan amount and the unpaid principal
balance on their current loan. For example, if I
currently owe $400,000.00 and my new loan
will be $500,000.00, I will only pay mortgage
tax on the difference of $100,000.00.
The first step a borrower must take when
requesting a CEMA is to make sure the current
lender is wiling to assign the borrower’s loan
over to the new lender. There is no legal obli-
gation on the lender’s part to do so and every
lender has their own requirements and fees to
process the request. When representing a new
lender, our firm handles obtaining this informa-
tion on behalf of the borrower.
Once a current lender determines it will grant
a CEMA, the current lender will locate all of the
underlying collateral documents of the current
loan, meaning all prior promissory notes, allon-
ges/endorsements and recorded documents
in the mortgage chain. The next step is for the
new lender’s assigned bank attorney to review
the underlying collateral documents. This is to
ensure each document was properly record-
ed, notarized, executed, contains the correct
address and all pages are present. The chain of
title must accurately flow through the...
OVERCOMING OBSTACLES TO SAVE
BORROWERS THOUSANDS
MORTGAGE FINANCE
Read more
online at
alblawfirm.
com/save-
borrowers-
thousands
Read more online at alblawfirm.com/home-
promised
CONDOMINIUM & COOPERATIVE
Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. took a ferry to its
third annual meeting for a condominium
development. Consisting of hundreds of newly
constructed two-family homes built for moder-
ate income persons to revitalize a formerly
blighted area of Queens, ALBPC thought about
the first tour of the development, asking how
a developer could receive so many millions of
dollars in governmental subsidies, but not have
to provide a home free of defects, some of
which simply could not be fixed.
As soon as ALBPC was hired, our attorneys
attended many meetings, free of charge, to
educate the residents on their rights. Most of
these first-time home buyers had previously
been renters and no longer were handy and
available. At the same time, the property was
not well-built and persons buying moderate
homes in certain price ranges rarely hire engi-
neers to inspect homes before purchasing.
The last thing our attorneys wanted to do was
sue; they knew that once our firm sued there
would be no winner. Legal fees are expensive
and many of the repairs needed to be fixed...
ALBPC SECURES VICTORY FOR TITLE COMPANY IN 100 YEAR OLD
EASEMENT ACTION
Read more
online at
alblawfirm.
com/krieger-
first-american
TITLE INSURANCE CLAIMS GROUP
In Krieger v. First American Title Insurance
Company, Plaintiff alleged that First American
failed to disclose the existence of a 100 year
old easement which severely depressed the
value of his property. Instead of informing
First American, Plaintiff sold the property for
a reduced value based upon the existence of
the easement. Plaintiff then brought an action
against First American for breach of contract to
produce a marketable and insurable title report,
breach of fiduciary duty to deliver a marketable
and insurable title, and for attorney fees.
ALBPC was retained by First American and
immediately strategized and filed a motion
to dismiss based upon: (i) the title policy not
constituting a promise or guarantee to the
Plaintiff that the title to the property is free from
any defects; (ii) insurance companies not owing
their policyholders a fiduciary duty; and (iii) an
insured not being able to recover attorney’s
fees against an insurance company to settle
any rights under the policy absent a contractual
or policy provision permitting same.
Furthermore, to the extent that Plaintiff’s
complaint could be construed as claiming...
JOANNA PECK SPEAKS TO AIANY WOMEN IN ARCHITECTURE COMMITTEE
Read online at alblawfirm.com/aiany-women-
architecture
NEW CONSTRUCTION REPRESENTATION
Joanna Peck spoke at the AIANY Women in
Architecture Committee’s “The Forensics of
Architecture: CSI of Buildings” panel on June
5th, 2019 at the Center For Architecture in New
York City.
Speaking about the investigative process
that forensic architects engage in, Joanna Peck
used her real estate litigation experience as
well as her three distinct degrees in finance,
business, and law to jointly discuss the prob-
lems that many buildings face through liabilities
along with the strategies that owners could use
in order to solve said problems and figure out
who to hold accountable.
Plaintiffs brought an action against the
Defendant, essentially seeking to determine
the ownership of a property located in Brooklyn.
In this case, both parties were deeded title to
the subject property. Because the Defendant
recorded its interest first, Plaintiffs assert-
ed the following causes of action against the
Defendant as a basis to quiet title in Plaintiffs:
(1) forgery; (2) adverse possession; (3) equita-
ble estoppel; (4) unclean hands; and (5) unjust
enrichment. ALBPC was able to secure judg-
ment in favor of the Defendant, dismissing
each and every one of these claims.
As to Plaintiffs’ first cause of action, they
claimed that the signatures of the grantors on
the Defendant’s deed were forged. However, as
ALBPC argued, the grantors’ signatures were
notarized, and a notarized instrument raises a
presumption of due execution which can only
be rebutted with clear and convincing proof.
ALBPC WINS SUMMARY JUDGMENT FOR DEFENDANT IN A HEATED TITLE
DISPUTE
Read more online at
alblawfirm.com/heated-title-
dispute/
TITLE INSURANCE CLAIMS GROUP
In this case, Plaintiffs presented no evidence
at all, let alone clear and convincing proof, to
support their claim that the Defendant’s Deed
was forged. In fact, ALBPC was able to secure
the testimony of grantors and
of the notary public who nota-
rized their signatures, each of
whom flatly contradict...
Acommercial landlord in Williamsburg recent-
ly called upon Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C., to
prosecute two commercial holdover proceed-
ings in Kings County Civil Court.
The tenant occupies two adjacent spaces
(governed by two separate leases) in a commer-
cial building in Williamsburg from which it
operates a supermarket. Several years ago,
the landlord served notices to cure on the
tenant alleging various lease defaults, includ-
ing improper construction and alterations and
lack of required permits and approvals for vari-
ous work and equipment. As many commercial
tenants do, the tenant ran to Supreme Court,
commenced a declaratory judgment action and
applied for a Yellowstone Injunction to toll the
running of the cure period.
However, the leases each contained a provi-
sion which prohibited the filing of declaratory
judgment actions; instead the parties agreed
to resolve their issues in a summary proceed-
ing. Moreover, pursuant to the lease provi-
sion, a violation of the provision was expressly
deemed a breach of a substantial obligation of
the lease.
The Supreme Court dismissed the tenant’s
case. The Appellate Division, Second
Department affirmed.
It had been several years since the notic-
es to cure were served. Although the landlord
was winning in every Court, stays were in effect
precluding prosecution of holdover proceed-
ings. Underscoring the need for faster resolu-
tion of commercial lease disputes, the tenant
continued to operate its business in violation of
the lease, including using unlawful HVAC equip-
ment. Numerous violations were issued by vari-
ous government agencies.
Based on the Appellate Division decision,
Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C., pushed the hold-
overs forward. The tenant’s leases were termi-
nated based on the violations of the...
ALBPC WINS JUDGEMENT AFTER
TENANT VIOLATES LEASE CLAUSE
LANDLORD REPRESENTATION
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online at
alblawfirm.
com/non-
traditional-
family
Andrew C. Jorges, Esq., of the Transactional
Department at Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C.,
represented the seller of a multi-million dollar
commercial building on Bedford Avenue in
the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, NY. The
property, which contains both residential
and commercial space, was in high demand
because of its location in one of Brooklyn’s
most expensive neighborhoods.
ALBPC encountered unexpected headwinds
during the course of the transaction when the
purchaser of the property, a well-known real
estate developer, changed the terms of the
deal by refusing to sign a contract unless the
Seller agreed to deliver the entire premises
vacant on or before closing date. Fortunately
for the Seller, Vladimir Mironenko, Esq. of the
Landlord/Tenant Department
at ALBPC sprung into action
and immediately served a
notice of termination...
ALBPC CLOSES $4.35M
COMMERCIAL BUILDING
PURCHASE & SALE OF HOMES
Read more online at
alblawfirm.com/4m-
commercial-building
Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. obtained a deci-
sion from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Second Circuit affirming that a recorded mort-
gage or other real estate document signed
before a notary public is valid even where the
notary’s “stamp” with his or her name and
other identifying information is missing from
the recorded copy of the document.
An investor purchased a condominium unit
at a foreclosure sale, subject to a first posi-
tion mortgage on the unit. He then filed a quiet
title action seeking to void the first mortgage
based on technical defects in how the notari-
zation of the mortgage documents appeared
in the recorded copies available from the New
York City Register. In his most significant claim,
he asserted that because the notary’s stamp
on the City Register’s scanned
copy of the mortgage docu-
ments was missing or illegible,
the documents were not...
SECOND CIRCUIT VICTORY,
DOCUMENTS MISSING STAMPS
TITLE INSURANCE CLAIMS GROUP
Read more online at
alblawfirm.com/second-
circuit-victory
GETTING HOMES PROMISED TO CONDOMINIUM OWNERS

4. 6 FALL 2019 (212) 825-0365 7WE GET RESULTSWWW.ALBLAWFIRM.COM
ADAM LEITMAN BAILEY, P.C. NEW YORK REAL ESTATE ATTORNEYS
ADAM LEITMAN BAILEY, P.C.
ONE BATTERY PARK PLAZA
EIGHTEENTH FLOOR
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10004
Adam Leitman Bailey joined a group of real
estate experts in the Bahamas on January
28th, 2019 for The Real Deal’s Future City real
estate summit. Mr. Leitman Bailey, speaking on
new harrassment laws, new certification of no
harassment requirements, and new construc-
tion changes in law and regulation among other
things, was the thought leader for a session
discussing policies that are impacting develop-
ers and landlords.
ADAM LEITMAN BAILEY SPEAKS AS A THOUGHT LEADER AT THE REAL DEAL’S FUTURE CITY
REAL ESTATE LITIGATION
Read more online at alblawfirm.com/real-
deal-future-city
ALBPC DEFEATS FRAUDULENT
SIGNATURE CLAIM FOR BANK
FORECLOSURE LITIGATION GROUP
Read online at alblawfirm.com/
fraudulent-signature-claim
Awell-known bakery producing some of the
finest breads and pastries in New York
was blocked from using most of its property
to bake bread and desserts. During the first
meeting with the client while going over the
government’s objections to the use of the build-
ing as a bakery, logic defied the explanations
for the denials. The bakery resided in a district
that allowed its use to make its produce with-
out any special permits. The building complied
with all standard governmental requirements.
The building appeared to have been construct-
ed in accordance with Department of Building
requirements. By the time ALBPC was hired, the
delay had been going on for three years.
ALBPC uncovered a fraud and cover-up. The
architectural firm that had caused the objec-
tions had covered up the reasons. Second, this
firm had been banned from doing business in
New York. Third, this firm had been blaming
the City for the approval delays and when our
attorneys finally contacted our local represen-
tatives and the director of the department of
buildings our attorneys learned that the delay
did not come from the government but from our
client’s representative. Meetings that were set
up or were supposed to occur never happened.
The client was never told the real reasons for
the delay.
ALBPC visited the Queens Department of
Buildings many times and although the archi-
tectural firm’s excuses seemed legitimate,
the more our attorneys dug into the file and
A QUEENS STORY: UNCOVERING A FRAUD, FIXING A BUILDING, AND
MAKING THE CLIENT WHOLE FOR ITS LOSSES
COMMERCIAL TENANT REPRESENTATION
Read more online at
alblawfirm.com/bakery-blocked
In 2006, Deutsche Bank National Trust’s
(“DBNTC”) predecessor in interest lent over
$800,000 to Lois Sacks secured by a mort-
gage on a property in Sag Harbor, NY, a wealthy
community in New York’s storied Hamptons.
The mortgage and note were signed under a
power of attorney by Robert Sacks, the borrow-
er’s son. After default on the mortgage, a fore-
closure proceeding was brought by another law
firm in 2009 and discontinued in 2010. Sacks
brought a quiet title action in 2012 seeking
to declare the mortgage invalid, alleging that
Robert Sacks had presented a forged Power of
Attorney and had no authority to mortgage the
premises. Deutsche Bank, by other counsel,
counterclaimed for breach of contract based
on the mortgage and note and sued Fidelity
National Title Insurance Company (“FNTIC”)
and others in a third-party action. A default
judgment was entered against Deutsche Bank.
When Adam Leitman Bailey PC (“ALBPC”)
was asked to enter and defend, we were able to
vacate the default judgment against DBNTC, to
dismiss as to FNTIC and to proceed with discov-
ery. ALBPC assigned two former prosecutors to
the case who conducted a nationwide investi-
gation which revealed a multi-
state conspiracy on the part of
Robert Sacks and associates to
defraud mortgagees and other
creditors...
Continuing his mission to educate students
of all ages, Adam Leitman Bailey took
students from his alma-mater, New Milford High
School, on a walking history tour around down-
town Manhattan. His half-day tour brought the
students through one of New York City’s most
famous areas giving them a first-hand look
at sites such as Alexander Hamilton’s grave,
Federal Hall, and the site of the Peter Zenger
case. Students commented that they were
surprised to learn that there was so much more
to the history behind “Hamilton” (the musical).
NEW MILFORD STUDENTS ATTEND
ANNUAL WALKING HISTORY TOUR
COMMUNITY/SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
ADAM LEITMAN BAILEY VISITS AND READS TO LOCAL SCHOOLS
COMMUNITY/SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
On a mission to spread a love of reading to
under-served children, Adam Leitman Bailey
personally dedicates hours of his time to read-
ing his children’s book, HOME, to students at
local elementary schools. This year his HOME
book tour took Mr. Bailey to James Madison
School and PS191Q, as well as a number of
other schools and organizations in and around
New York City.
Adam Leitman Bailey’s visits to these schools
give him the opportunity to sit down with the
youth of our communities and teach them
about the lessons he writes about in HOME.
Mr. Bailey hopes that his readings teach chil-
dren the important lesson that it doesn’t matter
how big your home is or what it looks like; what
matters most is the people who surround and
love you.
Over a decade ago Adam Leitman Bailey
founded the Raymond “Hap” Harrison
Scholarship as a part of the Building
Foundations organization, to honor his high
school cross country and track coach, who
inspired him greatly. Since then, the scholar-
ship has been awarded each year to recent high
school graduates planning to attend college in
the fall.
This year Adam Leitman Bailey presented the
Raymond “Hap” Harrison scholarship to Amaya
Nina of New Milford High School and Mariela
Lopez of Information Technology High School.
During their internships at the firm, the recipi-
ents assisted with putting copies of Mr. Bailey’s
recent children’s book, HOME, into the hands
of several hundred local organizations and
schools in underprivileged and underserved
areas, helping with legal assignments for the
attorneys, and completing other marketing
projects.
In addition to granting the scholarship each
year, Adam Leitman Bailey also invites the
winners, new and old, to join him for a luncheon.
These luncheons give the students time to talk
ADAM LEITMAN BAILEY ANNOUNCES 2019 RAYMOND “HAP” HARRISON
SCHOLARSHIP AND JOINS OTHER RECIPIENTS FOR ANNUAL LUNCHEON
COMMUNITY/SCHOLARSHIP
Read more at buildingfoundationsanddreams.
com/raymond-hap-harrison-scholarship
with Mr. Bailey, seek advice from him, and
network with each other while also giving Mr.
Bailey the opportunity to honor their hard work
and celebrate their outstanding achievements,
both inside and out of the classroom.
interviewed relevant parties, our firm knew a
fraud was amiss.
ALBPC immediately had a tolling agreement
signed extending the time to sue the architec-
tural firm. Our attorneys discovered that the
offices in the space had to be destroyed which
had never been relayed to the client while the
client could not fully operate its factory losing a
large amount of money daily. The lies piled up
as well as the losses for our client.
At the same time, the client was very happy
that progress had been made, the building had
not been shaped into compliance with new
professionals and business was running at full
production.
ALBPC carefully documented the intention-
al deceit and negligence in detail and careful-
ly calculated its losses and was in the process
of working with the architectural firm’s insur-
ance company to avoid a lawsuit and receive a
proper paycheck.
Our client was in the process of opening new
stores and sent our firm many thank you gifts in
the form of bread and pastries.
This was one of those feel good stories where
as lawyers our firm was worried we would never
be able to seek justice for our
client and in the end our attor-
neys reached a happy ending on
many levels. All of the attorneys
on the case fell for the client...
Read more at buildingfoundationsanddreams.
com/book-tour
Read more at buildingfoundationsanddreams.
com/annual-historical-tour

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