39.22 C. Prevailing Party Clause

• Jurisdiction: New York

C. Prevailing Party Clause

Most commercial leases include a provision that a tenant must pay a landlord’s legal expenses and attorney’s fees in connection with any default in the lease.

Although state law mandates that such an attorney’s fees clause in a residential lease is deemed to be reciprocal, the statutory mandate in residential cases does not apply to commercial leases. Despite many failing arguments to the contrary, attorney’s fees provisions providing payment to the landlord in connection with a...