Residents of Carnegie House are entering arbitration regarding substantial increases in their ground lease rent. The co-op board's attempts to delay arbitration through litigation and a proposed state bill were unsuccessful. A petition filed alleges that a neutral umpire should be disqualified due to potential bias involving unrelated work offered by land owners' attorneys. Although the board sought to have the umpire recuse himself, he refused. Shareholders continued to resist efforts to proceed with arbitration, but a last-minute attempt to postpone the hearing was also denied.
The board filed a petition Tuesday, alleging that a neutral umpire appointed as one of three arbitrators should be disqualified due to proof of his appearance of impropriety and clear apparent bias and partiality.
Shareholders of the co-op continued to put up a fight last week, but an eleventh-hour attempt to postpone the hearing failed on Thursday.
The petition points to the fact that attorneys for land owners approached the umpire with another, unrelated job, to appraise a vacant parcel in Manhattan.
The board asked the umpire to recuse himself, but he declined and also indicated that he would not take up the separate job.
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