New York City Civil Court - Housing Part
Appeals
In General
Stay of Enforcement of Judgment or Order Pending
Appeal
Filing of Notice of Appeal
Obtaining the Transcript of Trial
Poor Person’s Relief to Obtain the Transcript
Procedure for Making Proposed Amendments
Serving the Transcript
Settlement of the Transcript
The Appellate Term
An appeal cannot be taken from anything other than a written order or judgment made by a judge. Where matters have been settled by mutual agreement of the parties, through mediation, by ex parte order, or on default, no appeal is possible. In such cases, you must first bring a motion or order to show cause to vacate the settlement, the default judgment or the ex parte order. The order which grants or denies your motion or order to show cause is then appealable. You should consult an attorney regarding any legal remedies you may have.
The appeal process may be costly. In order to submit an appeal you will have to provide a copy of the transcript of the hearing, which may be transcribed from a tape recording machine or from the notes of a court reporter. The fee may be based upon the length of the transcript which must be prepared. It is suggested that you obtain an estimate of the cost of preparing a typewritten transcript of the minutes of the trial. You may also wish to listen to the tapes before having them transcribed. You may consider the information useful in determining whether or not to appeal. You may also qualify for Poor Person’s Relief which would pay for the cost of the appeal. To find out where in your county to contact the court reporter, obtain a transcript of the tape recording of your hearing and/or apply for poor person’s relief go to Locations.
A notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days from the service of the judgment or order appealed from, with written notice of its entry. If a copy of the judgment or order is not served, there are no time limitations on the filing of the appeal. Go to Serving "Notice of Entry" to learn more.
A party served with a notice of appeal may take a cross-appeal within ten days after service of appellant’s notice of appeal or motion papers, or within the original 30-day time period, whichever is later.
An appeal does not mean a new trial or the presenting of
new evidence. Rather, it is a review of the relevant
portions of the court file and the relevant portions of the
transcript of the trial minutes by the judges of the Appellate
Term of the State Supreme Court.
Stay of Enforcement of Judgment or Order Pending Appeal
In general, an appeal does not stop or stay the execution of a judgment. If there is a possessory judgment against you and you want to stop it while your appeal is being decided, you must follow the instructions in this section.
A stay is available to anyone facing an eviction who provides the required undertaking, that is, the deposit of an amount of money equal to the judgment amount, or another amount set by the court. The undertaking is required for protection in case any harm is committed against the property during the months that the appeal is being decided
In order to obtain a stay:
1. You must serve a notice of appeal on the other side.
2. You must apply to the trial court which rendered the judgment
or order to set the amount of the undertaking. You may do
so by order to show cause.
The court will set the undertaking, which may include payment
of use and occupancy in
installments as it becomes due while the appeal is pending.
3. After the trial court sets the amount of the undertaking
you must then deposit that amount with the clerk of the New
York City Civil Court in your county. You may be required
to continue to deposit use and occupancy as it becomes due
while the appeal is pending.
4. The automatic stay is not effective until the notice of
appeal is served, the court has set the undertaking and the
appellant has paid the undertaking.
The appellant may also apply directly to the Appellate Term for a limited stay, or to vacate, limit or modify a stay imposed by the trial court. If a stay is granted, it may be based upon conditions determined within the discretion of the Appellate Term. It is likely that the amount the court will require to be deposited with the Civil Court as an undertaking will be the entire judgment amount awarded by the trial court.
If a respondent disagrees with the imposition of a stay, the respondent can challenge the stay at the court where the appeal is pending. That court has the power to vacate, limit or modify any stay imposed. The respondent must show that the appeal is without merit, was brought in bad faith or solely to delay, that the stay will cause an undue burden or hardship, or that the appellant failed to comply with the court’s order requiring an undertaking.
Any New York State or political subdivision of the State, such as the New York City Housing Authority, can also obtain an automatic stay. For example, the Housing Authority or the City of New York can obtain an automatic stay if it appeals an order to correct violations or to perform repairs in an HP case, or an order in favor of a respondent in an eviction proceeding.
If you are interested in appealing a Housing Court judgment
or order, which consists of filing a notice of appeal and
perfecting the appeal,
continue reading the procedure set forth below.
The form required to appeal may be downloaded for free by going to Notice of Appeal or you may obtain the form from the Appeals Clerk in your county.
Fill out the Notice of Appeal then make two copies. Have someone who is over the age of 18 and not a party serve a copy on the opponent. (If the opponent has an attorney, the attorney must be served). Such service may be by mail or in person. The server must fill out an affidavit of service form. Go to Affidavit of Service to obtain the appropriate free civil court form.
The original Notice of Appeal with the Affidavit of Service must be filed with the Civil Court, and the fee paid. To find out the cost of the fee go to Court Fees. If you do not have enough money to pay the fee, you may ask the court to waive the fees. To learn how to apply for a waiver of the filing fee, go to Poor Person’s Relief. To find out where to file the Notice of Appeal in your county, go to Locations.
The remaining copy should be retained by you for your records.
Obtaining the Transcript of Trial
The appellant must order and pay for a transcript of the minutes of the trial from a transcribing service if the proceedings were recorded by a digital recording system, or from the court reporter if one was present in the courtroom.
For the Record System (FTR)
There is a digital recording system in the courtroom that
records all the proceedings before the Judge. To obtain a
transcript of your hearing follow the steps below:
1. You must requisition the audio record in order to create
a transcript. To do so you will need to know the index number
of the case, the Part and the day(s) and time(s) that you
were in court.
2. After you have that information and are ready to request
the record, go to Locations and check the section on "Tape
Recording Transcription" to find out where to go in
your county.
3. To listen to, get a copy of or to request that the record
be transcribed, you will be asked to fill out a Civil Court "Request for Audio Record” form. On this form you will indicate
the caption and index
number of the case, the name of the
judge, the part and room, the date(s) and time(s) of trial,
and your name address and telephone number. This form must
be signed and dated. If you wish to have the record transcribed
at this point, you will need to add the name of the transcription
company (see number 5 below).
4. Court personnel will contact the person whose name and
telephone number are listed on the form. You may return to
court to listen to the record and/or obtain a copy of the
record on a CD. You may also obtain a copy of the record,
on an audio file, that can be emailed to a web address. You
may wish to do this before having the record transcribed
because the information may be useful in determining whether
or not to appeal.
5. If you wish to have the record transcribed, you must select
an Authorized Transcription Company from the list of Electronic
Recorder Transcription Services. These companies are not
employed by the court system and they set their own rates.
You may obtain a copy of this list from the Audio Records
Office (ARO).
6. The name of the Authorized Transcription Company must
be added to the Request for Audio Records form.
7.The ARO will arrange for the transfer of the record to
the transcribing company.
8. You will make your own arrangements with the transcription
company as to payment and delivery of the transcript.
9. If you have requested a copy of the record on a CD, the
court will contact the person named on the form to pick up
the CDs when they are ready.
Court Reporter
If you requested that a court reporter be present at your
hearing and the minutes
of the proceeding were recorded by a court reporter you must
follow the procedure below to obtain a transcript:
1. You must contact the court reporter’s office. Go to Locations to find out where
to go in your county. You will need the date of the hearing
and the name of the Judge.
2. The court reporter will provide an estimate of the cost
of preparing the transcript. If you order a transcript a deposit
of part or all of the estimated cost may be required.
3. You will make your own arrangements with the court reporter
as to payment and delivery of the transcript.
Poor Person’s Relief to Obtain the Transcript
You must pay for the cost of preparing the transcript, unless
you have obtained Poor
Person’s Relief. If you believe that you may qualify
for a waiver of costs and fees, go to Poor
Person’s Relief to learn more. When filing for poor
person’s relief you must provide in your affidavit in
support of your request an estimate of the cost of preparing
the transcript. You may obtain this from either the court
reporter or the Tape Recording Transcription office. Go to Locations to find where to go in your county.
Procedure for Making Proposed Amendments
If you find that there are mistakes in the transcript because
the transcriber did not correctly type what was said in the
courtroom, you must suggest corrections to the transcript
within 15 days after receiving the transcript by following
the procedure below. Any proposed changes will later be decided
by the Judge.
1. The appellant should read the transcript.
2. If there is an error in the transcript, the appellant should
make a note of the page and line number.
3. After the whole transcript has been reviewed, the appellant
should list each error by page and line number along with
proposed amendments on a page entitled "Proposed Amendments
and Objections."
4. The appellant should then make a copy of the proposed amendments
and objections list, and attach it to the transcript. It must
then be served on the respondent by following the procedure
below.
A Notice of Transmittal of Transcript, a copy of the transcript and the copy of the proposed amendments and objections, must then be served on the respondent by someone over 18 years of age and not a party. You may download the form required to send the transcript to the respondent by going to Notice of Transmittal of Transcript, or you may obtain the forms from the appeals clerk in your county.
The respondent shall make any proposed amendments or objections
and serve them on the appellant or his/her attorney within
15 days. After the 15 day period has expired, the appellant
may "settle" the transcript (see below) whether
or not the respondent has served objections.
The transcript must be "settled" by the Judge who heard the case, or by agreement of the parties. In this instance the word "settled" is used to mean that the transcript of the minutes of the trial and the proposed amendments and objections will be examined or reviewed for accuracy and finalized by the court. You may go to Notice of Settlement of Transcript to download the form you need or you may obtain the form from the appeals clerk in your county.
The Notice of Settlement of Transcript form is intended to notify the opposing party or his/her attorney of the date on which the judge will settle the transcript. You need not appear in Court on that day. The opposing party or his/her attorney must be given at least four days advanced notice (nine days if service of the Notice of Settlement is by mail) of the scheduled date of such settlement. The person who serves the Notice of Settlement must fill out an Affidavit of Service, which must be notarized.
The Notice of Settlement of Transcript form is to be filled
out in triplicate and distributed as follows:
Copy 1, the original, along with the transcript of the minutes
of the trial (with the objections and/or proposed corrections,
if any) is to be submitted to the Appeals Clerk before the
day of settlement. The Appeals Clerk will provide all the
papers to the trial judge on the day of settlement along with
the Affidavit of Service.
Copy 2, must be "served" on the opposing party or
his/her attorney by someone over 18 years of age and not a
party to the action, notifying him/her of the date on which
the judge will settle the transcript.
Copy 3, should be retained by you as your record.
After the transcript is settled, the Appeals Clerk will prepare a Clerk’s Return on Appeal and submit it to the Appellate Term with the transcript, Notice of Appeal, court record and any other related papers.
You must perfect (complete the filing of) your appeal with the Appellate Term of the Supreme Court in accordance with their rules, regulations and instructions. To find out where the Appellate Term is in your county, go to Locations.
