Eastside Exhibition Corporation rented two floors at 210 E. 86th Street for use as a multiplex movie theatre. A few years into the lease, the owner decided to build two additional floors atop the building and, without the tenant's permission, installed cross-bracing between two existing steel columns on each of the theatre's floors.
Because it believed that it had suffered a "partial eviction," the tenant stopped paying rent and asked a judge to stop the landlord from continuing with its construction activity.
After both the New York County Supreme Court and the Appellate Division, First Department, determined that neither a rent abatement nor an injunction was appropriate, the tenant appealed to New York State's highest court.
While the Court of Appeals agreed that the remedy for an actual eviction, partial or otherwise, can be a full rent abatement, it didn't think that "minimal" intrusions should trigger such an extreme penalty. And because the cross-bracings in this case took up "less than one-tenth of one percent" of the theatre, and didn't substantially interfere with the tenant's use and enjoyment of the space, the intrusion was seen as "trivial" and no reduction or injunctive relief was awarded to the tenant.
Now did that measure up?
To view a copy of the Court of Appeals' decision, please use this link: Eastside Exhibition Corp. v. 210 E. 86th St. Corp.