In Corbo v. West Side Travel , Paschal Corbo sued West Side Travel for nonpayment of rent and alleged he orally demanded the money from his tenant.
When West Side later failed to file an answer or appear in court in response to Corbo's nonpayment case, a final judgment was entered against the company and it was subsequently evicted.
Soon thereafter, West Side sought to be restored to the space alleging that it had been misnamed in Corbo's papers -- its actual name was West "Street" Travel. The tenant also claimed it owed no money to Corbo and never received any payment requests from him.
When the Richmond County Civil Court denied the tenant's motion, the company appealed to the Appellate Term, Second Department, which found the misidentification "de minimis" and to have caused no confusion "as to the party being sued."
The AT2 also found that Corbo wasn't required to give the tenant notice in writing since the oral demand was a legally permissible alternative. The appellate court also noted any payments the tenant made to the landlord were properly applied to the rent arrears and the tenant failed to pay the balance of monies due.
Finally, restoring the company to its space wouldn't have been appropriate, since it was a "month-to-month" tenant, whose occupancy was terminable at any time by either party, and Corbo had already "served a termination notice on tenant."
Now that's some West Side story !
(Case closed?)
For a copy of the Appellate Term's decision, please use this link: Corbo v. West Side Travel