Calixto v A. Balsamo & Rosenblatt, P.C. 2025 NY Slip Op 06686 Decided on December 3, 2025 Appellate Division, Second Department is the story of a L & T law firm that had an apartment building client, and apparently kept starting cases, knowing that the claims were exagerated and that the apartment building was not registered.

“The plaintiff was a resident of an apartment in a building located in Brooklyn. The building was managed by the defendant Justice McAllister and claimed to be owned by the defendants 266 Realty NY, LLC (hereinafter 266 Realty), and Heung Sang Tam (hereinafter collectively the building defendants). The plaintiff paid her rent directly to Heung Sang Tam, and the building defendants claimed that the apartment was rent stabilized, although there was no written lease for the apartment, and the plaintiff allegedly was never informed that the apartment was rent stabilized.

According to the plaintiff, over the course of her tenancy, defects in the apartment developed that Heung Sang Tam refused to repair. In March 2017, the plaintiff began to withhold her rent payments, with the intent to pay once the repairs were made. The plaintiff received a five-day notice dated August 21, 2017, from the defendant A. Balsamo & Rosenblatt, P.C. (hereinafter A. Balsamo), on behalf of 266 Realty, stating that the plaintiff was indebted to 266 Realty for her failure to pay rent. On or about September 13, 2017, A. Balsamo commenced a nonpayment proceeding on behalf of 266 Realty against the plaintiff, seeking to recover rent arrears in an amount [*2]significantly more than what the plaintiff withheld and a warrant of eviction. In response, the plaintiff paid the amount of rent she had withheld, but the nonpayment proceeding continued.

Thereafter, the plaintiff’s attorney obtained records indicating that the building was not registered with the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development and had not been registered with the New York State Division of Homes and Community Renewal since at least 1984. The plaintiff’s attorney additionally discovered that A. Balsamo and the defendants Balsamo, Rosenblatt & Hall, P.C., Robert Rosenblatt, Edward Hall, and Serenay Taysin (hereinafter collectively the attorney defendants), on behalf of the building defendants, commenced similar proceedings against various tenants. In the nonpayment proceeding, in an order dated February 16, 2018, the Civil Court of the City of New York granted dismissal of the proceeding on the ground that the building was not registered and, thus, the Multiple Dwelling Law prohibited 266 Realty from collecting any rent from the plaintiff.

In March 2021, the plaintiff commenced this action, asserting causes of action alleging a violation of General Business Law § 349 (first cause of action), negligence per se (third cause of action), and gross negligence (fourth cause of action) against the defendants, and a cause of action alleging a violation of Judiciary Law § 487 (second cause of action) against the attorney defendants. The building defendants and the attorney defendants separately moved pursuant to CPLR 3211(a) to dismiss the complaint insofar as asserted against each of them. In an order dated April 6, 2022, the Supreme Court granted the separate motions. The plaintiff appeals.”

“Here, the complaint alleged that if the defendants had exercised even the slightest amount of due diligence, they would have realized that the amount they were seeking from the plaintiff was incorrect, that the allegation that the building was in compliance with rent-stabilization laws was false, and that the judgment amount that they demanded was not authorized by law. As such, the complaint sufficiently alleged the material elements of a gross negligence cause of action (see Dolphin Holdings, Ltd. v Gander & White Shipping, Inc., 122 AD3d 901, 903). Accordingly, the Supreme Court should have denied those branches of the separate motions of the building defendants and the attorney defendants which were to dismiss the fourth cause of action, alleging gross negligence, insofar as asserted against each of them.

A cause of action alleging a violation of Judiciary Law § 487 “requires, among other things, an act of deceit by an attorney, with intent to deceive the court or any party” (Grasso v Guarino, 227 AD3d 872, 873 [internal quotation marks omitted]; see Shaffer v Gilberg, 125 AD3d 632, 636; Lazich v Vittoria & Parker, 189 AD2d 753, 754). “Relief pursuant to Judiciary Law § 487 is not lightly given, and requires a showing of egregious conduct or a chronic and extreme pattern of behavior on the part of the defendant attorneys” (Kaufman v Moritt Hock & Hamroff, LLP, 192 AD3d 1092, 1093 [citation and internal quotation marks omitted]). “‘To mislead the court or a party is to deceive it; and, if knowingly done, constitutes criminal deceit under the statute.’. . . While attorneys must zealously advocate for their clients, such deception or collusion is antithetical to appropriate advocacy, functioning as a fraud on the court or a party” (Bill Birds, Inc. v Stein Law Firm, P.C., 35 NY3d 173, 179 [emphasis omitted], quoting Amalfitano v Rosenberg, 12 NY3d 9, 14).

Here, the complaint alleged that the attorney defendants continued to litigate against the plaintiff despite having knowledge that the building defendants had misrepresented the amount owed and had misrepresented that the building was properly registered under rent-stabilization laws. The complaint further alleged that the attorney defendants were engaged in similar lawsuits against additional tenants. Accepting the plaintiff’s allegations as true and giving the plaintiff the benefit of every possible favorable inference, the complaint adequately stated a cause of action to recover damages for a violation of Judiciary Law § 487 against the attorney defendants (see Garanin v Hiatt, 219 AD3d 958, 959). Accordingly, the Supreme Court should have denied that branch of the attorney defendants’ motion which was to dismiss the second cause of action, alleging a violation of Judiciary Law § 487.”