New York Probate and Estate Administration Lawyer Blog
In this case, the Bay Street Landing Home Owners Association is the Plaintiff, while the defendants include PDR Bay Street/St. George, LLC, Philip Ressa and Estates at Bay Street Landing, LLC.
History
A New York Probate Lawyer asked the plaintiff asked for a summary judgement for $300000 and interest. The defendants once owned 130 Bay Street Landing in Staten Island New York. Counterclaims were also laid by the defendants. Ressa was once a principal in PDR and a guarantor for the Promenade Fund for the HOA. He sued another principal and guarantor, Dominick Marino, and two others: Leib Puretz and Tovia Mermelstein. Those two moved for summary judgment in favor of the defendant. They also asked that Ressa’s lawyer be disqualified because he might need to be a witness.
Originally, the plaintiff agreed to sell 130 Bay Street Landing to Bay Street/St. George LLC. This property was to be developed as part of a condo complex. The right to the property was later assigned to the defendant. In the declaration agreed upon between the defendant and the HOA, PDR agreed to maintain and repair the Promenade as defined in the agreement. Manhattan Probate Lawyers said the agreement also stated that if that work was not performed that the defendant should pay $300,000 to the home owner’s association. Bay Street/St. George was also required to establish a payment bond in some form that was accepted by the HOA to guarantee the payment of that amount in the event that the agreed upon work was not completed.
Ressa and Marino both agreed to guarantee the obligation of the contract as outlined in the agreement between the HOA and PDR. When PDR sold the property to Estates, there was an agreement which said that any obligation that PDR had regarding the Promenade or the fund to be paid in the absence of the agreed upon improvements was transferred to the new owners. After this took place, the City repaired the promenade with its own funds. Because the city, rather than the defendant’s, repaired the promenade; the defendant’s claim that they are entitled to the fund which was originally agreed upon if those repairs were not completed by the owners.
When the property was sold to Estates, both parties had legal representation carefully go over all of the relevant documentation. Nassau County Probate Lawyers said this included the Assumption and Indemnification agreement which stated that the obligation regarding the Promenade repairs was transferred to the new owners. Although Estates, claim that they were not aware of this agreement, the presence of legal counsel renders this argument invalid and extremely unlikely.
Because the city performed the repairs which were supposed to the obligation of the owners of the building, essentially a windfall for the defendant was created. Estates also offered another invalid defense when they claimed that they should retain the fund because the work that the City did on the Promenade was not the exact same as the work which had been outlined in the original agreement between the Home Owner’s Association and the owners of the building.
Results
Summary judgment was granted in favor of the Home Owner’s Association against Estates. The resultant award was equal to the originally agreed upon $300000 as well as any of the costs and disbursements assessed. Any claims against Mr. Ressa and PDR Bay Street/St. George were dismissed because any liability on their part was transferred to Estates at the time of the sale of the property. The counterclaims filed by the defendants against the plaintiffs are also similarly dismissed. Also dismissed is the claim by Ressa against Mermelstein, Puretz and Marino, along with any counterclaims by the third-party defendants.
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