N.Y. Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law 817 – Action for waste against joint tenant or tenant in common
§ 817. Action for waste against joint tenant or tenant in common. 1. An action for waste may also be maintained by a joint tenant or tenant in common against his co-tenant who commits waste upon the real property held in joint tenancy or in common. If the plaintiff recovers therein he is entitled, at his election, either to a final judgment for compensatory damages or to have partition of the property as prescribed in subdivisions 2 and 3 of this section.
Terms Used In N.Y. Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law 817
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
- Joint tenancy: A form of property ownership in which two or more parties hold an undivided interest in the same property that was conveyed under the same instrument at the same time. A joint tenant can sell his (her) interest but not dispose of it by will. Upon the death of a joint tenant, his (her) undivided interest is distributed among the surviving joint tenants.
- Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
- Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
- Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
2. Where the plaintiff elects to have partition, if the pleadings, verdict, report, or decision do not determine the rights and interests of the several parties in the property so held in joint tenancy or in common, the court must ascertain them, by a reference or otherwise. If it appears that there are persons, not parties to the action, who must have been made parties to an action for partition of the property, they must be brought in by supplemental summons and, if necessary, supplemental pleadings must be made. When the rights and interests of all the parties are ascertained, an interlocutory judgment for the partition or sale of the property must be rendered and the subsequent proceedings therein must be the same as in an action for partition, except as otherwise prescribed in subdivision 3.
3. The plaintiff may elect to take final judgment for the damages awarded to him, or that, in making the partition, or in dividing the proceeds of a sale, so much of the share of the defendant in the real property, or the proceeds thereof, as will be sufficient to compensate the plaintiff for his damages, and the costs of the action, other than the expenses of making the partition or sale, be laid off or paid, as the case may be, to the plaintiff. The residue of the property or proceeds, not laid off or distributed to the plaintiff or the defendant, must be laid off or paid to the persons entitled thereto, according to their respective rights and interests.