Tenants Move for Summary Judgment in Highbridge House case

In the Highbridge House case, Gluck and other owners of 15 former pre-1974 Mitchell-Lamas are suing the state's Division of Housing & Community Renewal. The landlords are asking the court to invalidate DHCR's November 2007 regulations that say that just leaving Mitchell-Lama is not by itself a "unique or peculiar circumstance" justifying a rent increase. Central Park Gardens is one of the buildings involved, so our tenants' association - along with that of Westview (765 Amsterdam) and Prospect Towers in Brooklyn - have become parties in the case.

Justice Alice Schlesinger of State Supreme Court told Gluck and his fellow landlords in that case that they could not withdraw from the case as they sought and had a week to move for "summary judgment" in the case. (Summary judgment is a determination based solely on whether the law is correct or not - because no one is disputing any facts.)

The landlords submitted their motion for summary judgment by the judge's deadline, and three of the tenant associations - Central Park Gardens, Prospect Towers, and Westview (Manhattan) have cross-moved for summary judgment. Our lawyer, David Ratner of Hartman, Ule, Rose & Ratner, did an outstanding job.

Click here for a copy of the Memorandum of Law supporting the tenants' cross-motion for summary judgment.

Click here for a copy of the tenants' Notice of Motion, Affidavit and Exhibits (all the complaints and answers) in the Highbridge House case.