Federal Judiciary

BACKHANDED COMPLIMENT
By Mark Thompson
markthomp@yahoo.com
Posted 05-21-08

New York County Supreme Court Justice Jane S. Solomon’s order settling a dispute over the sale of a townhouse was perfectly sensible “from a dispute resolution viewpoint” because “the final result seems to resolve the matter in a manner advantageous to both parties,” the Appellate Division said. But Solomon is a judge, not a mediator, the appellate panel went on to say, and her decision in the case should have more closely adhered to the “available rights and remedies under the law,” rather than searching for a “palatable middle ground.”

Solomon correctly granted the buyer specific performance of a contract for the sale of a townhouse, despite an ongoing dispute over renovations that the seller was supposed to have made but were only 80-85% complete. She erred, however, in another ruling handed down a month later awarding the recalcitrant seller the full purchase price, the appellate panel said.

Full post as published by Judicial Reports on May 21, 2008 (boomark / email).