Buyers who purchase homes in new developments can face a myriad of potential problems from construction delays to workmanship issues. However, during the overheated upstate pandemic real estate rush, a new hazard arises when unscrupulous developers cancelled contracts in favor of better offers, which was the very situation faced by Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C.’s clients, who Full Article…
About John Desiderio
John M. Desiderio, Partner and Chair of the Real Estate Litigation Practice Group, has been a practicing attorney in New York City for over forty years. His practice is concentrated in cooperative/condominium representation, real estate litigation, title litigation, mortgage foreclosures, and counseling in antitrust and trade regulation matters.
John M. Desiderio is rated by Martindale-Hubbell as “AV Preeminent” signifying the “Highest Possible Rating in Both Legal Ability and Ethical Standards.” Mr. Desiderio has been rated “AV Preeminent” by Martindale-Hubbell for over 30 years and has been named a Super Lawyer in the New York Metro Area.
Mr. Desiderio received his A.B. degree from Fordham University in 1963, an LL.B. degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1966, and an LL.M. degree from New York University School of Law in 1969. He served as a Captain in U.S. Army Intelligence from 1966 to 1968.
From 1969 to 1980, Mr. Desiderio was an Assistant New York State Attorney General under Attorneys General Louis Lefkowitz and Robert Abrams, and from 1972 to 1980 he served as Chief of the Attorney General’s Anti-Monopolies (now Antitrust) Bureau. He entered private practice in 1981 and represented clients in antitrust, Civil Rico, real estate, and general civil litigation. From 1989 to February 1999, he was a member of a prestigious litigation firm.
He has extensive experience in conducting and defending depositions and in conducting trials and arguing appeals in both New York State and federal courts.
Mr. Desiderio has extensive litigation experience in representing both landlords and tenants in commercial and residential real estate litigation. His cases in this area have involved issues relating to ownership of title to property, the right to enforce contracts of sale, landlord obligations to furnish habitable dwellings, tenant obligations to meet conditions of their tenancy, and the applicability of common law and statutory warranties to newly constructed or converted condominium and cooperative apartments. Mr. Desiderio also leads the firm’s American with Disabilities Act defense practice.
When Is Part Performance ‘Part Performance in Real Estate Cases’?
Adam Leitman Bailey and John Desiderio discuss the issue of “part performance,” the doctrine of which can overcome the Statute of Frauds in circumstances when parties enter into unwritten deals and don’t contemplate all the possible circumstances that might arise in the course of their dealings. In my 27 years as a real estate litigator, until recently, I Full Article…
In an Unprecedented Decision, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. Defeats an Easement Claim by Summary Judgment
Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. was retained by a long-established Bronx construction company related to one of the few remaining privately owned streets in New York. Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C.’s client was sued by its neighbor who claimed an easement over the roadbed owned by Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C.’s client. The neighbor, who resided on the Full Article…
Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. Helps Landlords and Sellers Navigate the Pandemic Against Defaulting Renters and Purchasers
COVID-19 has disrupted the ordinary course of dealing in both the residential leasing and sales sectors, with renters and buyers using COVID-related excuses and delays in attempts to avoid paying rent and close on sales in a fluctuating market. However, using a distinct combination of deep institutional knowledge about the Real Estate market, aggressive litigation Full Article…
Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. Helps Seller Retain Purchaser’s Deposit in Contentious Litigation
Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. represented owners of a Manhattan cooperative apartment who contracted in June 2021 to sell the apartment to sophisticated buyers, securing a standard 10% deposit on signing. The purchase contract contained standard terms, including an unconditional approval from the sellers’ co-op board. The apartment in question had previously been outfitted with central A/C and Full Article…
The “Irreparable Harm” Conundrum in Obtaining a Preliminary Injunction
Situations arise every day requiring attorneys to commence an action seeking court intervention to obtain immediate provisional relief, “respecting the subject of the action,” to protect a client against actions, in violation of the client’s rights, by a person, who is either threatening, about to do, doing, or procuring or suffering to be done, actions, Full Article…
The Surfside Condo Collapse: Lessons for New York
The disastrous collapse in Surfside, Florida of the 40-year-old Champlain Towers South condominium tower should set off alarm bells in New York City, wherein it is estimated there presently are more than 1 million buildings, many of which are more than 100 years old, including several in Manhattan that were converted to cooperative apartment buildings Full Article…
Another Hard Fought Victory by Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. for a Townhouse Developer under RPAPL § 881: By Digging In and Investigating and Uncovering an Insurmountable Amount of Evidence, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. Gave the Court Only One Path To Follow
In RLM TH LLC v. 162 East 70th Street Trust LLC, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. succeeded in a Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law (“RPAPL”) § 881 proceeding commenced against a neighboring homeowner, after Respondent refused to negotiate in good faith with Petitioner concerning, inter alia, construction on a shared party wall between Petitioner’s and Respondent’s townhouses on Full Article…