Rent overcharge actions can be certified as class actions as long as tenants waive their right to collect treble damages and individual tenants are allowed to opt out, the Appellate Division, First Department, ruled in three decisions handed down yesterday.
One of those decisions, Downing v. First Lenox Terrace, 100725/10, overturned an October 2011 decision by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Charles Ramos (See Profile), who held that rent overcharge actions cannot be adjudicated as class actions. That case was argued before the First Department a year ago, on April 26, 2012. The opinion was signed by Justice Richard Andrias (See Profile), joined by Justices Peter Tom (See Profile), Dianne Renwick (See Profile) and Sheila Abdus-Salaam (See Profile). Justice Leland DeGrasse (See Profile) dissented in part.
