The Appellate Division, First Department, in Universal Communications Network, Inc. v. 229 West 28th Owner, LLC, 85 A.D.3d 668 (1st Dept. 2011), explained that the “sole purpose of a Yellowstone injunction is to maintain the status quo so that a commercial tenant, when confronted by a threat of termination of its lease, may protect its investment in the leasehold by obtaining a stay tolling the cure period so that upon an adverse determination on the merits the tenant may cure the default and avoid a forfeiture.” First National Stores, Inc. v. Yellowstone Shopping Center, Inc., 21 N.Y.2d 630 (1968)
Any attorney who has served a notice to cure in the context of a commercial lease can readily attest to the ease with which a tenant can secure a “Yellowstone” injunction. “As a matter of policy, the courts have routinely granted ‘Yellowstone’ injunctions in order to avoid forfeiture of a tenant’s interest, and, in so doing, have accepted far less than the normal prerequisites for preliminary injunctive relief…” Rasch’s Landlord & Tenant, §23:53, Robert F. Dolan, Fourth Edition, 1998.
