David R. Brody

David R. Brody has been a real estate litigator since 1979. As a Senior Partner of the Firm's Supreme Court Division, he supervises many of the Supreme Court, Federal Court and agency litigations the Firm handles. In addition, he litigates in his areas of specialty which include complex litigations in all courts and various administrative agencies primarily involving (i) the conversion of commercial/manufacturing buildings to residential use and the attendant problems caused by claims of rent regulation and (ii) issues arising under the various building-related laws/rules, including Multiple Dwelling Law Article 7-C (the "Loft Law"), the New York City Building Code and Zoning Resolution and related statutes and regulations.During his 36 years of litigation, Mr. Brody has managed and tried more than 150 cases to conclusion, including actions in Federal, Supreme, and Civil Courts, arbitrations before the American Arbitration Association, and hearings before various administrative agencies. His successful trials include: Holy Properties v. Cole, 87 N.Y.2d 130 (1995), which the Firm successfully prosecuted through and including the Court of Appeals, ultimately resulting in the client recovering approximately $1.5 million dollars of rent plus legal fees. Recent years have seen successful trials and settlements in loft cases, holdover proceedings, ejectment actions, mold remediation cases, and various commercial litigations. Lately, he has focused on writing, and in Sheila Properties v. A Real Good Plumber Inc., 874 N.Y.S.2d 145 (2009) he successfully claimed that the Appellate Division’s affirmance of a judgment of ejectment was not undone by the subsequent June 21, 2010 amendment of the Loft Law. Since then, he has enabled another owner to avoid coverage of a dozen tenants in a building who had agreed to vacate prior to the change in the law and then attempted to reneg after the law changed.In recent years, the scope of his practice has increased to include tenant buyouts and evictions to enable the conversion of loft/commercial buildings to residential use and in a completely separate sub-specialty, to litigate the fair market value of a mid-town hotel and issues relating to the relationship of its foreign multi-national principals involving their various European hotels. He is an occasional lecturer concerning the issues and problems attendant to Loft conversions as well as the 2010 amendment to the Loft Law (Multiple Dwelling Law Article 7-C) and is also retained as a consultant or co-counsel by other law firms requiring such expertise.