Adam Leitman Bailey's Blog, page 5
November 16, 2023
Top 10 Most Influential Real Estate Litigation Lawyers in New York, 2023
In the world of commercial real estate, litigation is a common and inevitable facet. The diverse range of complexities, from tenant disputes to land use matters, necessitate the expertise of highly skilled litigators. In New York, home to some of the world’s most iconic real estate, we find attorneys who are at the top of their field in real estate litigation. This article focuses on some of these leading lawyers, their professional experience, and what peers and clients say about their competence and dedication.
With hundreds of legal minds navigating the waters of real estate litigation, what sets the following individuals apart is their impressive body of work, extensive experience, and the reputation they have built within the industry. Their expertise spans the gamut of real estate matters – be it luxury residential cases, landlord and tenant class action cases, or New York City land use matters.
Providing an in-depth understanding of the intricacies of New York’s complex real estate law framework and hands-on experience, these lawyers offer a broad range of services, often making the difference between success and failure in high-stake real estate litigation. Let’s dive deeper into their legacies and their contributions to the Real Estate Litigation industry in New York:
…
Adam Leitman BaileyAdam Leitman Bailey is a real estate litigator of high repute. His expertise particularly shines in complex landlord-tenant disputes. Clients value his thorough understanding of legal intricacies and his ability to effectively navigate them to achieve successful results.
November 13, 2023
Day in the Life of: Adam Leitman Bailey
A New Yorker through and through, Adam Leitman Bailey, 53, actually moved from Bayside, Queens, to LA, of all places, when he was five years old. A self-described “Karate Kid” situation emerged, where he was the one with the Brooklyn accent, Bailey moved back to the East Coast — New Jersey more specifically — when he was 13.
Now a resident of the Upper East Side, Bailey, a graduate of Syracuse University School of Law, says he owns the largest real estate law firm, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C., that’s owned by one person. Real estate, Leitman Bailey says, is “in chaos,” so business at his firm is hopping, with cases ranging from foreclosures, lien fights, partners battling over who has the right to make decisions, landlord/tenant disputes and class actions.
Leitman Bailey in 2011 prevailed against Trump Soho on fraud claims, with would-be condominium buyers receiving 90 percent of their deposits — about $3.4 million — after having relied on deceptive sales figures. He’s also worked on landmark cases, like using a forgotten federal statute called the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act, during the Great Recession, enabling Leitman Bailey to help void the contracts of sales for buildings over 100 units.
He’s also representing 980 Fifth Avenue against former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer in an unlikely adverse possession case in Manhattan.
While Leitman Bailey was much more interested in talking about his weekend role as a baseball coach for his two school-age kids, The Real Deal asked him to take us through a typical work day (if there is such a thing) in his life,
6 a.m. This is always the same. The alarm clock goes off at 6 a.m., no matter how much or how little sleep I get. I get out of bed right away because I know that the hardest part about running is putting your shoes on. So I get my shoes on and I head to Central Park for my 4 mile run.
I started the routine when I graduated from law school and I received my first job in March of 1996. I cannot wear any gadgets. I wear a Timex $40 watch. It allows me to figure out my cases, go over my problems, go over the day ahead and when you’re finished, you’re now ready for the day.
6:50 a.m. I’m not as fast as I was when I could do that run in 26 minutes. Now it’s slower. The goal is to get back at 6:50. Then I hit the shower, brush my teeth, and shave. I wear Fahrenheit and Burberry colognes, I mix them.
7:10 a.m. My kids get on the bus to go to school at 7: 30 a.m., so I try to spend at least 20 minutes with my kids before they hit that bus. Unfortunately, until Friday, on many nights I don’t see them for weeks during the night.
7:30 a.m. I wear a suit and tie every day to work. No dress downs. My entire firm does that. We were back in the office from Covid in September 2020. All my suits look alike. All my suits are either light blue or dark blue or gray or grayish-blue. So all my suits all match my white and blue shirts. It’s one less decision I have to make. Every time I wake up, once I’m putting on my suit, I don’t have to think. I have a rotation. I have 12 suits that are active. If I wear the suit that day, it goes to the back of the row, and the next suit comes up to the next one. It does change a little based on the judge I’m going in front of. … I know how they’re going to dress, so I’m going to try to match them. We just had a case in front of Judge Cohen, and he’s very corporate, so I wore a very corporate suit and a very corporate tie for that one.
8:30 a.m. There’s one of two patterns every day. Am I going to court or am I going to the office? Today is an office day. So I get a ride in and I do work on the way to the office. I answer the emergency emails the night before, I wake up with hundreds of emails every morning. I am checking the headlines of the day. I have three subscriptions. The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and this other news thing that allows me to see the headlines of the newspapers. I also read The Real Deal email every morning. When I was younger I would take the subway to the office, now I realize that by having a ride to the office, I’m getting a half hour of work done, so I do that.
9 a.m. We serve breakfast in the office. It’s stocked for all the employees in the office. If I’m not going to court, I’m gonna eat it at 9 a.m. in the office. I eat the same breakfast every day. I have oatmeal, two hard boiled eggs, I do not eat the yolk, I have a cup of coffee. … I heard that it’s now healthy to eat the yolk, but I was trained that it’s fattening. … If I’m in court this all changes and I hustle to a restaurant around the corner at 8:15 that serves breakfast and get oatmeal, hard boiled eggs and coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice at a diner-type place. I love New York diners. I think it’s one of the best things ever invented. It’s the Bayside Queens in me.
10 a.m. to 1p.m. My day is covered with appointments, both with calls, right now we have 436 emails to answer. We have a 24-hour rule to answer emails. It’s extremely difficult to do that. We’re going to have calls and meetings all day. In between I’m answering calls, pitching calls, doing Zooms, doing calls, and making sure everybody is getting a return call within the 24-hour rule. That is a sacred rule.
We have to hire more attorneys because we’re overwhelmed with work. The real estate world is in chaos. If the real estate world is in chaos, people are going to litigate.
1 p.m. I understand the importance of getting outside. It’s a two-block walk to a local restaurant I like, no one is there, they treat me very well, I order the same thing every day. I order soup — tomato or butternut squash — and an egg skillet dish and avocado. I work while I’m eating. If I’m in court, I have my assistant order me Seemless and get me a Poke bowl. Lunch, because I’m working and eating, could last 20 minutes, it could last 40 minutes, I don’t really notice. I try to make it a 40 minute excursion to get a break from the chaos.
2 p.m. We schedule depositions in the afternoon. I try not to do my own depositions. So clients insist that I do them. I’m either defending or taking them till 5 p.m. If I hear a deposition is not going well, or the attorney needs help, I’ll be jumping in, too. Some of these depositions are extremely exciting. We treat depositions like it’s war. We take it very seriously.
5 p.m. You’re catching up. The next day to go over. Returning calls and email. That takes you to 8 or 9 at night because of the 24-hour rule. I am an extremely focused person. There’s at least 50 people here, I have a lot of help, but a lot of people bring in business here, but I’m bringing in the bulk. We reject at least one-third of the cases, maybe two-thirds that we take in. We don’t like unhappy clients and we can’t take in cases that are too small based on the amount of money I’m paying the attorneys here.
8 p.m. I leave the office.
9 p.m. I need an hour of relaxation when I’m not doing anything. I spend time with my wife, I watch TV or sports. I am a major Mets fan, I like the Knicks, the Giants. My son and I play fantasy football. I’m really not good at life. I eat very healthy, I order rotisserie chicken and sushi, I like ordering dishes with avocado and I love fish, chicken and sushi. I’m eating very quickly because I’m getting home so late.
11 p.m. I go to sleep. My wife is amazed that when I hit the pillow, I fall asleep instantly. My body is trained when I hit the pillow it goes to sleep. I am a phenomenal sleeper. I understand the importance of sleep. I understand it makes me a better attorney, it makes me a better person. I recognize the importance of getting seven hours of sleep a night. I’m 53 years old, over 30 years of practicing law, your body is trained to get that much sleep, you hit the pillow, 6 o’clock, you’re ready to go.
Read the original article here.October 23, 2023
Adam Leitman Bailey Awarded Access and License Agreement 881 Case in Difficult Litigation Plagued with Repairs and Damages to Building
“I don’t think she is the right fit for this case and our Board. She is too aggressive, and it simply is not going to work for us. We want a different attorney at your firm assigned to the case,” the client advised Adam Leitman Bailey.
“I am going to ask you to reconsider,” Mr. Bailey responded.
“When you go to a doctor, do you choose the doctor based on whether you like them as a person and want to go out to lunch with them, or do you choose the best doctor in the field, regardless of personality? I can reassign the case to another attorney, of course. But, this attorney is the best in the State of New York in this area of law, and if I were you, and it was my money, I would stay with her. Remember, you aren’t going out to lunch with her.”
The client paused. “Good point.”
The client decided to keep her assigned to the case.
The Board had been in litigation with its adjacent neighbor for over thirty years concerning gaining access to perform essential repair work to the exterior of its building.
After exhausting negotiations over the course of several years, and being held hostage over the terms and conditions of access, the Board sued the adjacent owner multiple times under Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law (“RPAPL”) Section 881.
However, each time the Board went to Court to attempt to gain access under RPAPL Section 881, the adjacent neighbor would beat them by arguing that the Board’s proposed work was unsafe and risky.
Then Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. was assigned to the case. Knowing that they would ultimately have to sue the adjacent neighbor again under RPAPL Section 881, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. devised a strategy that would make it almost impossible for any Court to disagree with the client’s position concerning the required access to the neighboring property.
Over the course of the next year, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. worked with the Board and the project representative for the Board to deeply understand the safety concerns raised in the prior proceedings commenced by the client that ultimately resulted in defeat.
This permitted Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. to ensure that such safety concerns were comprehensively addressed, and could not be used again against the client as such concerns were just a red herring as the adjacent owner was really simply preoccupied with stopping the project under a “not in my backyard” mentality.
Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. next proceeded to negotiate the terms and conditions for licensed access by anchoring the adjacent owner into a position that it could no longer object to the Board’s project based on safety issues.
Apparently realizing that they were finally being cornered, the neighbor put up new roadblocks, including feigning damage to its building caused by the Board, and making unreasonable and unprecedented financial demands on the Board for licensed access.
Based upon years of experience in RPAPL Section 881 actions, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. knew that almost any judge would find the adjacent owner’s financial demands egregious, particularly given that the work by the Board was not elective work, but rather mandated by the New York City Department of Buildings to protect the safety of the public and the adjoining neighbors, including the adversary.
Suspecting that the adjacent neighbor was really more concerned about stopping the project than anything else, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. recommended that the Board file an RPAPL Section 881 case against the neighbor.
Working carefully alongside the project owner representative, the firm drafted and promptly filed papers against the adjacent owner.
Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. argued to the Court that the client had fully addressed all of the safety concerns as evidenced by the fact that the New York City Department of Buildings had approved its safety plans for the project work.
The firm also argued to the Court that the adjacent owner’s financial demands were unprecedented and outrageous and that such monetary demands should not be given deference as this was a project to protect the safety of the adjacent owner, in addition to the public.
The Court agreed with Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C., and promptly granted the license proposed by the Board for access to the adjacent owner’s property pursuant to RPAPL Section 881.
Joanna C. Peck and Adam Leitman Bailey of Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. worked on this case.
October 18, 2023
Real Estate Company Coup–The Ousted President Hired Adam Leitman Bailey to Restore Order and Regain His Managing Member Powers and Fight Off Investors Successfully
In early August 2023, Adam Leitman Bailey picked up a phone call from a prospective new client, the managing member of a real estate investment and development company. The potential client’s tale was most dire:
“I have been kicked out of the company I started. They shut off my email. A letter has been sent out that I am no longer with the company. They have cut off access to my bank accounts. I need your help.”
The leading coupist’s motivation came from the economic times of the day. Due to the real estate slump, everyone at the company had to undergo a salary reduction. But the coup’s leader refused and instead teamed up with a minority investor that had only a 20 percent interest in the company. The coup’s leader made an agreement with such investor under which the investor would provide the coupist with money and protection, including payment of the coupist’s legal fees.
Many companies, like those of the potential client, had taken out loans when times were good, but now were ailing and in distress and could not withstand internal civil disobedience.
Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. took the case and strategized that it would only sue the leading dissenter, not the full group carrying out the coup or the minority investor. This would allow the judge to have a clear path to focus on restoring our client to power without dealing with the minority investor’s problems with our client or the other employees’ role in the coup, as we needed some of these employees to return, and suing them would not have facilitated achieving our goal in getting our client back to work.
As lawyers, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. set some records. Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. worked day and night to get the legal papers – a complaint and a motion for a preliminary injunction – done, putting maximum effort into the affidavits and memorandum of law in support of the motion, but the key to the case was the record speed with which we were able to have our first hearing before a judge after purchasing our index number and filing the complaint and motion.
Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. electronically filed our Order to Show Cause for emergency action, and then Mr. Bailey called the law clerk, explaining our situation and that our client was in grave peril and may go out of business if we could not get in front of a judge immediately.
Mr. Bailey had also broken the rules regarding Orders to Show Cause—every other Order to Show Cause he had written to be accepted in his almost 30 years since graduating law school always set out a pattern that a judge would sign setting out a future date for argument. Our submission reached the ultimate decision on the merits at the first hearing, which Mr. Bailey knew would be rejected by the clerk’s office. Hence, he walked the clerk into his world of the case and explained why Mr. Bailey needed it this way and how he would take full blame for the work. It worked. Our case was promptly assigned to a judge. That judge was on vacation, so we were given the covering judge, who seemed to be expecting us.
Justice Joel M. Cohen was not only one of the finest judges in the entire court system, but he had been a corporate lawyer at a prestigious law firm for an entire career before retiring from private practice. He reads all documents and corporate documents before the oral argument, has an even temperament, and could not be better for this case which is entirely based on agreements.
Mr. Bailey walked into the courtroom and handed up the Order to Show Cause. Almost a half hour later, Justice Cohen asked Mr. Bailey to contact his adversaries and ask them to appear. They did not believe that they had to appear the same day the Order to Show Cause was filed. Mr. Bailey mentioned that to the judge, who told Mr. Bailey to tell them they were ordered to come to the court.
Opposing counsel finally told Mr. Bailey that they were at home, and Justice Cohen said he would permit them to argue via Microsoft Teams, a videoconferencing application that is similar to Zoom.
By the next morning, all attorneys had appeared in person and the oral argument continued. A decision had been rendered from the bench that day. Adam Leitman Bailey’s client had won on all accounts unanimously, getting everything he had asked for. He had been named managing partner in charge of the company affairs. The order restored his email, office space, control of his website and bank accounts, and the ability to hire employees and run his office. On later dates, Adam Leitman Bailey won two other motions restoring all services and allowing our client full control over the bank accounts.
Adam Leitman Bailey and Brandon Zlotnick appeared for Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. in this case. Adam Leitman Bailey appeared in court and argued the case for the firm.
September 28, 2023
Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. Received a Rare Injunction in the State Supreme Court Stopping the Foreclosure Auction of Units and Forcing the Sponsor to Abide by the Settlement Agreement Disowned When Defaulting on Mortgage Ensuring Millions, Resident’s Unit,
In 2018, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. was retained by a group of unit owners at a new construction condominium in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The new building was advertised as a luxury condominium, and encompassed an entire block, with over 200 units consisting of one to three-bedroom units, duplexes, lofts, penthouses, and townhomes.
On paper, the building sounded like paradise. In reality, however, the building was plagued with construction defects and shoddy workmanship from the start. Shortly after moving in, residents quickly discovered a myriad of issues including leaks from ceilings, windows, and terrace doors, excessive air at windows and doors, noxious smells permeating from unit to unit, and significant deviations in the quality of finishes and amenities from what was promised in the offering plan.
Through constant advocacy and tireless work, calls, emails, meetings, etc., over a four-year period, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. was ultimately able to secure a landmark settlement for the condominium. The Sponsor agreed to pay millions of dollars to the condominium, sufficient to cover all of the remediation of all of the construction defects at the building. In addition, the offering plan required that the board purchase the Resident Manager Unit and five handicapped parking spaces from the sponsor for a total cost of over $1 million. Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. was also able to negotiate the Sponsor handing over the Resident Manager Unit and five handicapped parking spaces (the “RMU” and the “Parking Spaces”) to the board free of charge. And lastly, the Sponsor agreed to turn over control of the Board to the residents ahead of schedule.
However, the Sponsor breached the settlement agreement and failed to timely close on the transfer of the RMU and Parking Spaces. After diligent investigation work, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. discovered that the Sponsor’s breach was caused by its default under the loan agreement with its construction lender for the project.
Specifically, the Sponsor pledged all of the units owned by the Sponsor and its membership interests as collateral for the loan it obtained to construct the building. The Sponsor was served with a Notice of Disposition of Collateral, advising that the Sponsor’s lender intended to sell the membership interests of the Sponsor at a public sale pursuant to the Uniform Commercial Code. In its advertisements of the sale, the lender represented that the Sponsor’s assets were luxury condominium units at the Condominium and parking spaces, including the RMU and the Parking Spaces promised to the Board as part of the settlement agreement.
The Sponsor maintained that it could not complete the transfer of the RMU and Parking Spaces to the Board as a result of its default under the terms of the loan agreement because the Lender would not release the RMU from its collateral under the loan agreement. This put the Board in a very precarious position: without the partial release of the mortgage for the RMU, the RMU would remain subject to foreclosure by the Lender, even if it was transferred to the Board.
Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. went right back to work. Using their expertise in title litigation, the law governing condominiums, foreclosures, and the sale of assets under the Uniform Commercial Code, a team of attorneys at Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. prepared a bullet-proof Order to Show Cause, with a request for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, seeking a stay of the UCC sale and requiring that any terms of sale include that the RMU and the Parking Spaces were required to be sold to the Board. The Board asserted a claim that any purchaser of the membership interests of the Sponsor would “step into the shoes” of the Sponsor and be obligated to fulfill the Sponsor’s obligation under the settlement agreement. And, if the sale of the membership assets of the Sponsor satisfied the amounts due and owing to the lender, the lender could no longer seek to foreclose upon the RMU and the Parking Spaces.
The papers argued that the Board satisfied all of the requirements for a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order: (1) a likelihood of success on the merits; (2) irreparable harm; and (3) the equities weigh in favor of the Board. Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. demonstrated a clear likelihood of success on the merits of its claims. Citing case law directly, the Board argued that a transfer of ownership of a limited liability company does not affect the rights and obligations of that entity, and as such, it was likely to succeed on its claim that any purchaser would be required to honor the Sponsor’s agreement to sell the RMU and the Parking Spaces to the Board.
There was also no question that the Board would be irreparably harmed without the requested injunctive relief. The Board pointed out that it is essential that the Board have the RMU to comply with New York City law requiring a resident janitor under New York City Administrative Code §27-2054. The Board could not risk that a purchaser of the membership interests of the Sponsor could claim status as a bona fide purchaser without notice of the Board’s claims to the RMU, thus depriving Plaintiff of its ability to comply with the law. And for this reason, too, the equities favored the Board.
The Court agreed with Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C., and issued an order, stating the UCC sale of the membership interests of the Sponsor pending a determination of the Board’s claims. This pressure created by Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. forced the Lender to agree to release the RMU and Parking Spaces from its collateral in exchange for the Board’s withdrawal of its request to stay the sale.
The parties then successfully closed on the transfer of the RMU and the Parking Spaces. And now, the Board owns both the RMU and the Parking spaces, free and clear of all liens and encumbrances.
Our clients’ years-long battle with the Sponsor was hard-fought and encountered many obstacles throughout the way. However, through the persistence and ingenuity of the attorneys at Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C., justice for the residents of the building was finally achieved.
Adam Leitman Bailey, Dov Treiman, Jeffrey R. Metz, Rachel Sigmund McGinley, and Courtney J. Lerias represented the client in this matter.
September 20, 2023
September 8, 2023
“Two of the litigators said if your firm couldn’t win the case it was not winnable.”
“Your firm was brought up in the context of a Landlord and Tenant matter where an owner sought eviction on a nuisance ground of second-hand smoke. The judge was sympathetic to the smoker because of “everything going on right now”. Two of the litigators said if your firm couldn’t win the case it was not winnable. There was a great deal of respect for your firm and the talented litigators.”
September 7, 2023
I Think Our Condo Board Is Spying on Us. Are These Cameras Legal?
Q: We have a serious situation in our Midtown East condo building. Our board president has installed cameras above the doorman’s desk and in the passenger and commercial elevators. We suspect the cameras monitor conversations, as well as everyone’s comings and goings. But the doormen can’t see the video; only the board president and our superintendent can. The doormen go outside so they can talk to one another without fear that their conversations are being recorded. Can the board president spy on everyone like this?
A: Cameras that capture images in common areas of residential buildings for security purposes are lawful — though recording conversations, as you describe, is not.
[…]
You and your fellow owners should read the corporate documents to determine how to call a meeting and get some answers, said real estate lawyer Adam Leitman Bailey. “I recommend that the owner seek to call a special meeting using legal counsel, and if not an option, without counsel, and try to undo this arrangement on privacy and safety concerns,” he said.
What is Rosario Dawson’s ethnicity? The actress’s multiracial upbringing
Rosario Dawson plays the lead role in her third appearance as Ahsoka Tano. She previously played Ahsoka in The Book of Boba Fett and The Mandalorian and is currently starring as the fan-favorite character in the Disney+ miniseries Ahsoka. Rosario’s co-star in Ahsoka, Ray Stevenson, sadly died before the series premiered. Talking to People magazine, Rosario described Stevenson as a ‘Nordic kind of man’ with ‘the most gentle, brilliant, loving divine feminine spirit’.
Rosario Dawson was born on 9th May 1979 to Isabel Celeste and Patrick C. Harris. Celeste is of Puerto Rican and Afro-Cuban descent; Harris is Native Indian and Irish.
In a tweet posted in June 2013, Rosario clarified her ethnicity, asserting she is multiracial, not biracial. “I’m not biracial,” Rosario tweeted. “I’m half Puerto Rican/Afro-Cuban & half Irish/Native Indian. #multiracial.”
Rosario was six when the family moved into a fire-damaged squatter’s apartment without electricity and running water. The residents restored the building and eventually gained ownership of the apartment block. Celeste, who briefly moved to the Dominican Republic after the September 11 attacks, said via the Adam Leitman Bailey law firm:
“I was told I could not be a homeowner. I was told I was a squatter and I was the lowest of the low. And I didn’t have a right to live in New York City, in Manhattan, in one of the greatest cities in the world. Because of the people around me, because of my belief – I believe in God. Because of the support of my family and friends and the expertise of Adam Leitman Bailey and his team, I became a homeowner.”
