McMaster v Pearse (2005 NY Slip Op 25387)
McMaster v Pearse
2005 NY Slip Op 25387 [9 Misc 3d 964]
September 19, 2005
Lebedeff, J.
Civil Court Of The City Of New York, New York County
Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.
As corrected through Wednesday, November 30, 2005
[*1]
Mark T. McMaster et al., Plaintiffs,
v
John Pearse et al., Defendants.
Civil Court of the City of New York, New York County, September 19, 2005
APPEARANCES OF COUNSEL
Charles E. Boubol, P.C., for plaintiffs. Itkowitz & Harwood, New York City (Jay B. Itkowitz of counsel), for Janina Pearse, defendant.
OPINION OF THE COURT
Diane A. Lebedeff, J.
Plaintiffs seek to recover their security deposit for a residential rental unit. This matter poses the unexpectedly novel issue regarding jointly owned real property of the extent to which each co-owner has individual responsibility and accountability for the proper treatment and potential return of a leasehold security deposit.
In May of 2003, defendant landlords John and Janina Pearse, husband and wife, rented the second and third floors of a residential building located at 15 East 77th Street, Manhattan, to the plaintiff tenants, the McMasters. Plaintiffs provided a security deposit of $21,000, which was deposited in a high yield savings account in the name of defendant John Pearse only. In July of 2004, shortly after the tenants vacated, the account was liquidated and there was a refusal to return the security deposit to plaintiffs. Plaintiffs sue to recover the security deposit upon theories of conversion and breach of contract and seek summary judgment on those claims (CPLR 3212).