In a recent residential landlord-tenant case, Newman Ferrara LLP secured a significant rent abatement for its clients who were tenants in an apartment with a severe mold condition. A number of media outlets recognized the significance of this case and reported on it recently. Those articles are reproduced here.



In Brief

NEW YORK LAW JOURNAL, May 13, 2003, p. 1, col. 1

Couple Wins Rent Award Due to Dangerous Mold

A Manhattan judge has awarded a couple a 21-month rent abatement for dangerous mold that developed in their East Side apartment after a leak in the ceiling above their living room, bathroom and closet. Civil Court Judge Jean Schneider agreed that Thomas and Cleo Birrenbach were constructively evicted from their apartment as the mold spread. An expert testified that the mold, which filled the apartment with a "foul stench," could cause allergic reactions, severe sinusitis and liver damage. The judge rejected arguments from the landlord, 157 East 57th Street LLC, that the condition was not serious enough, and that the Birrenbach's behavior — "while undoubtedly annoying at times"—did not delay repairs. The landlord had previously been held in contempt for its inadequate remediation of the mold. Daniel Finkelstein and Melissa Ephron-Mandel of Finkelstein Newman represented the tenants. Judith M. Brener and Jeffrey M. Goldman of Solil Management Company represented the landlord. 157 East 57th Street LLC v. Birrenbach, 50733/01.



Plots & Ploys: Black-Mold Fight

By SHEILA MUTO Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

May 14, 2003, Section B, Page 6, col. 5

The owner of a Manhattan apartment building is ineligible to collect most of the back rent from a couple who vacated their unit and stopped paying rent because of black mold, according to a New York City Civil Court decision issued last week.

The owner of the 20-story apartment building at 157 East 57th St. sued Thomas and Cleo Birrenbach in December 2000 for failing to pay rent. The couple hasn't paid rent since fleeing their apartment in October 2000, and haven't returned since then. As of mid-February, they owed about $41,568 in unpaid rent. The building owner asserted that the couple thwarted efforts to remediate the problem by canceling dates when cleanup work was scheduled and they got in the way of the workers. The Birrenbachs maintain that the mold problem remains.

Judge Jean Schneider ruled the owner was entitled to collect just $10,527 of the unpaid rent for six months beginning in July 2002 after the mold problem was fixed. "The Birrenbachs' actions, while undoubtedly annoying at times, did not significantly delay the correction of the conditions which caused their constructive eviction," she wrote in her decision.

Jeffrey Goldman, an attorney representing the landlord, says, "The judge correctly determined the mold condition had been abated in June 2002." He adds that the landlord has not yet decided whether to appeal.

Lucas Ferrara, a partner at Newman Ferrara LLP, the New York law firm representing the Birrenbachs, says the decision awarded the tenants a $30,000 rent abatement, Given that, "the tenants are considered the prevailing party," he says, "so the landlord has to pick up their legal fees," which total about $120,000.

Daniel Finkelstein, senior partner of the firm, says he will try to get overturned the $10,527 owed by the tenants to the owner, a company he says is controlled by the estate of real-estate mogul Sol Goldman. The mold problem "has reappeared," he says.