What are some of the department’s most satisfying successes of the past year and why? Rosenberg & Estis has effectively broadened both our scope of services and our ability to meet the needs of our clients across expanded sectors. We have been able to fully integrate new personnel and skills to the benefit of skills. We represented Joe Germanotta, the father of Lady Gaga and the proprietor of ArtBird and Whiskey Bar in Grand Central Terminal in civil court. The firm secured an order restraining the MTA from seeking rent and fines.

The firm successfully represented building owner Belnord Partners LLC in a dispute over whether the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 can be applied retroactively to revive, or expand recovery on, a previously asserted rent overcharge claim. The New York State Court of Appeals ruled that Part F of the HSTPA may not be applied retroactively, and instead, overcharge claims must be resolved under the law in effect at the time the overcharges occurred. The court definitively held that, under the prior law, an overcharge is calculated using the rent charged four years prior to the filing of a complaint, plus any legal increases applicable during the four-year lookback period, except in limited circumstances of fraud.