Litigation update Spring 2012

The firm, led by partner Leslie J. Snyder and senior associate Doug Warden, scored a landmark victory on April 24, 2012 when the Appellate Division, NYS Supreme Court (1st Department) entered a unanimous decision affirming the right of our client, Verizon Wireless, to install equipment required for a cell site installation on top of a party wall shared with a neighboring property owner in New York City. The decision is the first in New York State to expressly acknowledge that the rights attaching to the commercial use of a party wall apply equally to installations made into or on top of the party wall. The decision, Lei Chen Fan v. New York SMSA Ltd. Partnership, is reported as 94 A.D.3d 620, 943 N.Y.S.2d 451 (1st Dep’t 2013).