Esplanade Gardens, Inc. v. Licciardi

Esplanade Gardens, Inc., Petitioner-Respondent, against John P. Licciardi, Respondent-Appellant. Respondent-appellant Licciardi appeals from an order of the Civil Court of the City of New York, New York County (Jack Stoller, J.), dated April 12, 2016, which denied his motion to dismiss the petition and granted petitioner's cross motion for summary judgment of possession in a holdover summary proceeding. Per Curiam. Order (Jack Stoller, J.), dated April 12, 2016, affirmed, with $10 costs. We agree that respondent Licciardi is precluded from relitigating his succession claim in this licensee holdover proceeding, by virtue of the denial of his successor tenancy application by the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) (see City of New York v Montefusco, 29 Misc 3d 126[A], 2010 NY Slip Op 51659[U] [App Term, 1st Dept 2010]). HPD is vested with exclusive jurisdiction to determine remaining family-member claims in city-aided Mitchell-Lama housing, and its issuance of a denial of succession rights and a certificate of eviction cannot be collaterally attacked in a subsequent summary proceeding (see Bedford Gardens Co., LP v Jacobowitz, 29 AD3d 501 [2006]). In sustaining the possessory judgment in petitioner's favor, we note that respondent's CPLR article 78 application to annul HPD's determination was denied by Supreme Court, whose disposition was affirmed by the Appellate Division, First Department (see Matter of Licciardi v Been, 149 AD3d 665 [2017]). THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE COURT. I concur I concur I concur Decision Date: January 03, 2019