Janoff v. Sheepshead Towers, Inc.

• Decision Date: 09 July 1965
• Citation: 16 N.Y.2d 824,263 N.Y.S.2d 165
• Parties: , 210 N.E.2d 456 Ronald C. JANOFF, Appellant, v. SHEEPSHEAD TOWERS, INC., et al., Respondents, and Sheepshead Cabana, Inc., et al., Defendants.
• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

Page 165

263 N.Y.S.2d 165

16 N.Y.2d 824, 210 N.E.2d 456

Ronald C. JANOFF, Appellant, v. SHEEPSHEAD TOWERS, INC., et al., Respondents, and Sheepshead Cabana, Inc., et al., Defendants.

Court of Appeals of New York.

July 9, 1965.

Appeal from Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department, 22 A.D.2d 950, 256 N.Y.S.2d 45.

Purchaser brought action against vendor, vendor's lessee under a prior unrecorded written lease, individual, and other defendants for specific performance of contract for sale of realty, for damages, and for declaration that lease was invalid.

The Supreme Court, Special Term, Kings County, Albert Conway, J., entered a judgment declaring that the lease was invalid and ineffective as against the purchaser, declaring that the purchaser was entitled to specific performance with an abatement in the purchase price, and directing that the vendor and the individual deliver to the purchaser a deed to the property free and clear of liens and encumbrances, except certain mortgages, and directing the lessee to remove from the property by a certain date, and the vendor, the lessee, and the individual appealed.

The Appellate Division reversed, on the law and the facts, the judgment of the Special Term, dismissed the complaint as against the lessee and the individual and severed the action as against the other defendants, and remitted the action, as between the purchaser and the vendor, to the Special Term for reconsideration de novo as to remedies and damages and for entry of judgment, and held that purchaser, who had actual knowledge of the lease prior to payment of the full purchase price and prior to acceptance of legal title, was not a bona fide purchaser and was not entitled to onwership free of the rights of the lessee. Beldock, C. J., dissented.

The purchaser appealed to the Court of Appeals, and motion was made in the Court of Appeals for a stay.

Motion denied and the case set down for argument at the September, 1965 session of the Court of Appeals.