The Place Where Property Law Happens in New York City

Last thirty day period, the New York Periods documented on a pitched adverse possession fight involving two household buildings on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

On a coveted stretch of Fifth Avenue, techniques away from Central Park, the shareholders of an Higher East Aspect cooperative are battling for an unconventional prize: the possession of a grimy concrete ditch at the rear of their luxurious condominium building.

The approximately 350-square-foot plot is at the center of a lawsuit submitted on Friday in New York State Supreme Court docket that pits the millionaire inhabitants of 980 Fifth Avenue versus the real estate mogul and former governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer, who owns an adjacent rental tower. . . .

In its lawsuit, the co-op board is arguing that it ought to be the rightful owner of the pit by way of a doctrine named adverse possession, in which a celebration can make a authorized claim to a home after 10 ongoing a long time of undisputed use. Even though the assets is lawfully owned by Mr. Spitzer’s neighboring rental constructing, 985 Fifth Avenue, the co-op claims that it has routinely and openly made use of the around six-foot-deep niche to shop design materials and has by no means been requested to quit.

For all those of us instructing Assets to 1Ls, the timing of the story could not have been greater, as adverse possession frequently will make an early visual appearance in the study course. It also served as clean evidence of how musty outdated authorized doctrines can be pretty suitable in contemporary property disputes (particularly where by, as listed here, the events show up to be inspired by far more than just residence.

I did not recognize it at the time, but the spot of the dispute—79th and Fifth Avenue along Central Park—was also the site of a renowned assets scenario that is a staple of the 1L survey course: Brokaw v. Fairchild.

In advance of this corner was occupied by residential towers, it was the site of the Brokaw mansion. This mansion, crafted in the late 19th century, was bequeathed to George Brokaw in life estate. George did not want to live there, on the other hand, and had a difficult time finding anyone inclined to spend what he thought was a acceptable lease, so he needed to tear down the mansion and develop an apartment making. The only dilemma is that these who held future pursuits in the property (the “remaindermen,” i.e. individuals who held contingent remainders) objected to these options, major to a lawsuit.

In the end, the courts turned down George’s options, holding that it would represent “waste” for him to essentially improve the mother nature of the house by tearing down the mansion and setting up an apartment creating.  Wrote the courtroom, “this sort of demolition would consequence in these kinds of an damage to the inheritance as underneath the authorities would represent squander,” even if (as George claimed) it would boost the price of the assets.

The Brokaw mansion survived, and George lived there until his death in 1935. The mansion was eventually owned by Time magazine publisher Henry Luce, who was married to Clare Booth Luce (who had earlier been married to George). Inevitably, in 1964, the mansion was torn down and replaced with a residential tower—a household tower that, as luck would have it, is now at the centre of the aforementioned adverse possession fight, presenting nevertheless a different opportunity for the corner of 79th and Fifth to obtain a spot in House Regulation casebooks.