Judge Criticizes Lawyer for Offering a ‘Greatest Hits’ List of Defenses
A Manhattan judge has criticized a lawyer who offered 20 affirmative defenses for a commercial tenant sued over nonpayment of rent.
Judge Arthur Engoron ordered the tenant, Gotham Lasik, to pay $46,000 in back rent, the New York Law Journal reports. He went on to criticize Gotham Lasik’s lawyer, Steven Sutton, for offering “usual suspects” defenses.
Engoron wrote that Sutton’s defenses were “a veritable laundry list, something of a ‘greatest hits,’ of what respondents tend to argue.” The defenses included alleged problems with notices sent by the landlord, a contention that acceptance of a rent payment waived the right to recover more, and a claim that the lease was unconscionable. “In other words, we have the usual suspects, with, naturally, a few vague counterclaims thrown in for good measure,” Engoron wrote on June 1 (decision posted by the New York Law Journal).
Sutton told the New York Law Journal the decision was a “travesty” and the judge’s sarcasm was “mind-blowing.” Engoron has “no regard for tenants’ rights,” he said. He plans an appeal.
