Santiago-Monteverde v. Pereira (In re Santiago-Monteverde)

BARRINGTON D. PARKER, JR., Circuit Judge:

In this appeal we consider whether the value inherent in a New York City tenant’s rent-stabilized lease as a consequence of the protections afforded by New York’s Rent Stabilization Code (“RSC”), N.Y. *155Comp.Codes R. & Regs. tit. 9, §§ 2520.1 et seq., make the lease, or some portion of its value, exempt from the tenant’s bankruptcy estate as a “local public assistance benefit” within the meaning of New York Debt- or and Creditor Law (“DCL”) § 282(2). We conclude that the New York Court of Appeals is better positioned to resolve this unsettled issue of…