Andrew Lieb published the article in The Suffolk Lawyer, Federal Eviction and Foreclosure Moratoriums Invite Litigation. This article discusses issues that will be litigated if an eviction moratorium is raised as a defense to an eviction proceeding.

On September 28, 2020, Mayor De Blasio signed a bill into law amending the New York City Paid Sick and Safe Leave law to make it largely consistent with New York State's new Paid Sick Leave law. 

The law amends the New York City Paid Sick and Safe Leave law as follows:

Amount of Sick Leave: 

• Employers with 4 or fewer employees and a net income of over a million dollars are obligated to provide 40 hours of Paid Sick and Safe Leave per calendar year (no prior requirement);
• Employers with 5-99 employees (regardless of net income) are required to provide 40 hours per calendar year (unchanged);
• Employers with 100 or more employees are required to provide 56 hours of paid sick leave per calendar year (previously 40 hours). 

The amendments to the law take effect on September 30, 2020. Employers with employees in New York City should update their policies to avoid exposure.

 Watch the hearing live now here 

What do you think? 

The key question was whether there should be legislation to cap the number of salespersons per supervising broker. Wowwwwwww

If you were ever convicted of unlawful possession of marijuana, you can now easily get your record expunged and then, records about your arrest, prosecution, and criminal history will be destroyed.

Persons eligible to apply for the destruction of expunged marijuana (a/k/a, marihuana) convictions records are: 

• Persons convicted of Penal Law 221.10: “A person is guilty of unlawful possession of marihuana in the first degree when he knowingly and unlawfully possesses one or more preparations, compounds, mixtures or substances containing marihuana and the preparations, compounds, mixtures or substances are of an aggregate weight of more than one ounce.”
• Persons convicted of Penal Law Section 221.05: “[a] person is guilty of unlawful possession of marihuana in the second degree when he knowingly and unlawfully possesses marihuana.”

Persons adjudicated as Youthful Offenders are not eligible for expungement and destruction because such adjudication is not considered a conviction.

The following records will be destroyed:

• Arrest records;
• Prosecution records;
• Criminal history records;
• Any dismissal of your case; and
• Any expungement of your conviction.

It is important to note that only convictions of Penal Law 221.10 and 221.05 may be expunged and the destruction of records does not include any other conviction for any other felony or misdemeanor concerning the drug.

If you are interested in getting your marijuana conviction expunged and records destroyed, you should complete an Application to Destroy Expunged Marihuana Conviction Record and file it with the court where you were convicted. There is no application filing fee and you may file multiple applications if you were convicted in multiple courts.

By Executive Order 202.64, Governor Cuomo extended the moratoriums for the initiation of a proceeding or enforcement of an eviction of any commercial tenant for nonpayment of rent or a foreclosure of any commercial mortgage for nonpayment of such mortgage to October 20, 2020. This means that no eviction or foreclosure proceeding may be commenced against commercial tenants for nonpayment of rent or mortgage until such date.

There are no moratoriums in place for residential properties by Executive Order. Irrespective of Governor Cuomo’s Executive Orders, court directives are still in place whereby landlords and lenders are permitted to initiate residential and commercial evictions and foreclosures not based on nonpayment but such proceedings remain suspended until further notice. You can read more about these court directives HERE and HERE. Further, residential evictions remain governed by the Tenant Safe Harbor Act as well, which prohibits courts from issuing a warrant of eviction or judgment of possession against a residential tenant experiencing COVID-19-related financial hardship, among others.