Higgins v. Carter's Ink Co.

Headnote

Higgins v. Carter’s Ink Co., 178 App. Div. 889 , affirmed.

Appeal from a judgment of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the first judicial department, entered April 9, 1917, affirming a judgment in favor of plaintiff entered upon a verdict directed by the court. The action was brought by a landlord against his tenant to recover for breach of a covenant in the lease requiring the defendant “ at its own cost * * * during the whole of said term, to comply with all the laws, rules, orders, ordinances, requirements and regulations, ordinary and extraordinary, of the state and city of New York, their departments and bureaus, so far as they affect the said premises or the care and use thereof,” and also for breach of a further covenant in the lease that defendant would “during the entire term, keep the demised premises and all appurtenances thereto in good repair,

making all repairs whatever that might become necessary.” The breach complained of was the defendant’s failure to comply with certain requirements set forth in a letter from the state commissioner of labor, requiring the provision of additional means of exit, extension of stairway, and inclosure of interior stairways with partitions of fire-resisting material, covering the well hole of the elevator, and providing a new seat in a water closet, all matters specified by section 79b of the Labor Law, adopted in 1913, approximately a year after the execution and commencement of the lease.