Iken v Bohemian Brethren Presbyt. Church

Holding The Appellate Division affirmed a jury verdict awarding damages to a tenant for a landlord’s breach of lease duties to clear building violations and install a fire alarm system, which prevented the tenant from operating a preschool. The court rejected the landlord’s arguments that the rent abatement was the exclusive remedy and that the lost profits were speculative or barred by a lease provision limiting recovery to the building’s estate.

The court’s words

A determination that a verdict was based on legally insufficient evidence requires a finding that there is simply no valid line of reasoning

2026 NY Slip Op 05909, at the official text

the damages [were] caused by the breach, (2) the extent of the loss is capable of proof with reasonable certainty

2026 NY Slip Op 05909, at the official text

the limitations provision does not specifically preclude recovery for lost profits

2026 NY Slip Op 05909, at the official text

the isolated statements were not the type of comments that could have deprived defendant of a fair trial

2026 NY Slip Op 05909, at the official text