Bridgeview II, LLC v. Mars

After multiple, unsuccessful attempts to resuscitate her argument that the subject apartment was rent stabilized, and after entering into a binding stipulation of settlement with the benefit of counsel, tenant sought to vacate the stipulation, claiming that landlord’s prepayment of the mortgage did not subject tenant’s apartment to the Housing Assistance Program (HAP) contract rent. In my opinion, tenant’s claim is not one of fraud or mistake, but rather a new argument in a series of failed attempts to obtain a reduced rent. Since tenant had ample opportunity to raise this argument prior to…