Bilig Realty Corp. v Ovwasa

[*1] Bilig Realty Corp. v Ovwasa 2014 NY Slip Op 50271(U) Decided on February 28, 2014 Appellate Term, First Department Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. This opinion is uncorrected and will not be published in the printed Official Reports.

Decided on February 28, 2014
SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE TERM, FIRST DEPARTMENT
PRESENT: Lowe, III, P.J., Schoenfeld, Hunter, Jr., JJ
570018/14.

Bilig Realty Corp., Petitioner-Landlord-Appellant, - -

against

Charles Ovwasa, Respondent-Tenant-Respondent, -and- Rose Okoruwe, Respondent-Tenant, -and- Juliet Ovwasa, "John Doe" and "Jane Doe," Respondents-Undertenants.

Landlord appeals from an order of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Bronx County, (Jerald R. Klein, J.), entered August 2, 2013, which granted tenant's motion to stay execution of a warrant of eviction in a holdover summary proceeding based upon chronic rent delinquency.

Per Curiam.

Order (Jerald R. Klein, J.), entered August 2, 2013, reversed, without costs, and tenant's motion denied. Execution of the warrant of eviction shall be stayed for 30 days from the service of a copy of this order with notice of entry.Tenant repeatedly failed to comply with the unambiguous "time of the essence" payment provisions of two so-ordered stipulations executed in settlement of the underlying chronic rent delinquency holdover proceeding. "Strict enforcement of the parties' stipulation . . . is warranted based upon the principle that parties to a civil dispute are free to chart their own litigation course" (Mill Rock Plaza Assoc. v Lively, 224 AD2d 301 [1996]). "The forbearance initially shown by landlord in enforcing the strict letter of the payment provisions agreed upon by the parties did not confer upon tenant[s] a license to ignore [their] rent responsibilities with impunity or to make continuous delinquency a litigation strategy" (NKP Realty, LLC v Jennings, 16 Misc 3d 119, 120 [2007]). In view of tenant's repeated pattern of rent defaults both during and prior to [*2]the within proceeding, and given the unsatisfactory nature of tenants' explanation that their most recent payment default resulted from "unavoidable," yet unspecified circumstances, a further (fourth) stay of execution of the warrant of eviction was unwarranted (see Henry Hudson Gardens LLC v Bareda, 25 AD3d 466 [2006]).

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE COURT.
Decision Date: February 28, 2014