Joan Rivers prevailed in her condo board catfight against the bottle-blond bombshell who was posting up in the ground-floor unit of her post upper East Side building.
A Manhattan judge ruled Friday that the comedienne's 1 East 62 St. condo board can block the flamboyant tenant, Elizabeth Hazan, and the corporate owners from entering or using the $2 million, one-bedroom unit.
Supreme Court Justice Anil Singh said Friday that he was granting a preliminary injunction barring use of the unit until Hazan pays more than $200,000 in overdue common charges that she owes from the years when she owned the unit.
Singh said the current corporate owner also must pay common charges that it owes and get adequate homeowner insurance. It hasn't paid a dime in common charges since taking title in July, according to the board, of which Rivers is the president.
Finally, the judge said, if the corporate owners want to get access again and have Hazan or anyone else as their "guest," they must pay their Con Ed bill and restore electricity to the lavishly decorated, street-level apartment.
RELATED: JOAN RIVERS BACK TO COURT TO EVICT TROUBLESOME TENANT
"We think it's a terrific decision. It basically cuts through a logjam. The ball is now in their court," said Kevin Smith, the building's lawyer.
Darius Marzec, the lawyer for Hazan and the unit's corporate owner, said his clients are "shocked" by the decision which, by their count, has "at least ten errors -- both legal and factual" and they plan an emergency appeal.
Singh's injunction came after the corporate owner, Real Estate Holdings Group LDC, went to court last month to get access to the unit.
The corporation claimed in papers that their mail and packages had been seized and glue put in their lock to block entry to them and their "guest," Hazan.
Hazan, 41, stirred further controversy by giving interviews where she made personal attacks on Rivers, 80, who owns a penthouse in the building and is the board's president.
RELATED: JOAN RIVERS' CATFIGHT WITH WOMAN OVER CONDO TURNS INTO PUBLIC STANDOFF
On the morning when that case was due to be argued in court, Hazan summoned reporters to the building off Fifth Avenue and demanded entry in front of television cameras.
Just as Singh was ruling downtown that Hazan did not have to be let back into the unit, Hazan, waiving a deed, persuaded police uptown to let her gain entry.
The condominium owners regrouped and came back to court asking Singh to evict Hazan and to bar the new corporate owners and their "guests" from having any access to the unit because they had violated multiple bylaws of the building.
They said that during the one week Hazan used the apartment, she created a fire hazard by lighting the place with candles -- a necessity because Con Ed had turned off the power for nonpayment of the bills.
Hazan, a Florida based real estate broker, left the unit about a week ago. Marzec said she is traveling on business.
No comments:
Post a Comment