Shu Bo Jiao v. Worldwide Direct Membership LLC

OPINION OF THE COURT

Order, entered May 9, 2016, reversed, with $10 costs, motion granted, and matter remanded for a new trial before another judge.

At the trial of these consolidated plenary actions seeking unpaid rent, the court, sua sponte, dismissed the complaints, prior to the close of plaintiff landlord’s case, on the ground that plaintiff failed to produce a certificate of occupancy effective in 2013, when the underlying leases were signed. The court reached this conclusion even though defendants did not assert the lack of a valid certificate of occupancy as a defense in their answers or…