Daniel R. Goldenberg

Counsel to the owners of a Brooklyn townhouse. Obtained summary judgment on liability against the developer and builder next door under a construction access license agreement, on claims exceeding $1 million for breach of contract, indemnification, and attorneys’ fees, with damages to be fixed at inquest and the escrowed security applied to the judgment.

Counsel to the contract purchaser. The court denied the seller’s motion to cancel the purchaser’s notice of pendency and dismiss her vendee’s-lien counterclaim, reasoning that where the contract of sale made sums paid on account a lien on the premises, the down payment gave rise to a vendee’s lien affecting title, and that the escrowed deposit’s eventual return was no basis to deny the lien.

Among counsel to a Bronx Episcopal church sued by a would-be purchaser for specific performance and damages under a contract to sell church property. Supreme Court granted the church summary judgment dismissing the complaint, and the First Department unanimously affirmed, holding that the contract required the church only to apply for, not obtain, the necessary consents and that specific performance was unavailable under Religious Corporations Law § 12 once the Diocese declined to approve the sale.

Lead litigation counsel to the tenant entities holding the hotel lease interests in the former Ritz-Carlton Battery Park, later The Wagner, at the southern tip of Manhattan. Brought the emergency Yellowstone application against the Battery Park City Authority to stop termination of the hotel sublease and, after Supreme Court denied it, obtained interim relief from the First Department that preserved the lease pending appeal. The entities then entered chapter 11, where, over a lienholder’s objection and after a year-long mediation, the bankruptcy court approved the free-and-clear sale of the hotel lease interests and confirmed a liquidating plan, in a reported ruling rejecting the narrow reading of Bankruptcy Code § 363(f)(5).

Counsel to the developer of the Times Square Theater site on West 42nd Street. Briefed and argued the opposition to the landlord’s motion for summary judgment, which the court denied, preserving for trial the developer’s claims that the landlord’s shifting positions and pandemic-era financing conditions delayed the project.

Lead trial counsel to the landlord. Tried the action to verdict before a jury, which unanimously found that the tenant, the Government of Saint Lucia, had breached the lease and rejected its claims of constructive eviction and breach of the warranty of habitability.

Lead counsel to the commercial unit owner. The condominium’s action to bar retail use of the unit’s cellar was dismissed for failure to exhaust review before the New York City Board of Standards and Appeals, and its cross-motion for summary judgment was denied as moot.

Counsel to a not-for-profit affordable-housing sponsor in federal litigation over whether a nonprofit’s right of first refusal under Section 42(i)(7) of the Internal Revenue Code may be exercised without a third-party offer. The district court adopted the investor’s reading and certified the question for interlocutory appeal to the Second Circuit, where New York State and New York City appeared as amici for the nonprofit; the appeal was withdrawn after the parties settled.

Counsel to the State housing agency in an action to remove and replace the not-for-profit sponsor and operator of a State-financed housing development. Supreme Court granted the agency’s motion, and the First Department denied the sponsor’s motion for a stay pending appeal.

Counsel to a New York law firm and one of its partners. Defended RICO, fraud, and fiduciary-duty claims brought by a publicly traded technology company in federal court in Texas. The action was dismissed.