Appellate Court rules against guitarist in tenant case.

In a recent real estate ruling, the Appellate Court denied Grammy award-winning guitarist Johnny Winter's appeal of the Supreme Court's ruling in favor of the landlord, 501 East 87th St. Realty Company, LLC.

The court claimed the defendants, Johnny and Susan Winter and Ole Pa Enterprises, Inc., were not using the property as their primary residence and, therefore, were not the tenants of record.

The Winters must now pay $33,000 plus attorneys' fees for the 10 months they occupied the apartment after the lease expired.

Johnny Winter is a legendary blues guitarist who has been making hit records for over 30 years. Winter, 59, is a native of Beaumont, Texas, who grew up surrounded by blues, country and Cajun music.

Winter's debut LP with Columbia Records entitled "Johnny Winter" was release in 1968. In 1977, he fulfilled a dream by producing Muddy Waters' comeback album, "Hard Again" which won a Grammy Award. Winter had several other big hits which were nominated for Grammys including his 1986 album, "Third Degree" which was listed in a book by Rock & Roll Hall of Fame archivist Robert Santelli as one of the "101 Essential Blues Albums."

The facts of the case are as follows: In 1974, the Winters entered into a rent stabilized lease for the subject apartment naming them as the tenants of record. That lease expired on Nov. 30,1977. Before that lease expired, Johnny Winter requested and received a new rent stabilized lease naming Ole Pa, his corporate alter ego, as the tenant of record. Winter signed the corporate lease as Ole Pa's president and also signed the lease as personal guarantor of Ole Pa's obligations. Neither the corporate lease nor its renewals identify an intended occupant of the apartment. The landlord refused to renew the corporate lease based on the fact that Ole Pa was not occupying the apartment as its primary tenant.

The last renewal of the corporate lease expired Nov. 30, 1998. The defendants surrendered possession and vacated the apartment in September 1999 after holding over for 10 months. The Winters moved to Connecticut before the December 2001 trial and Winter never testified.

The defendants argued that the corporate lease should be interpreted to best serve the public interest, the landlord knew for more than 20 years that the Winters were occupying the apartment and that the lease should be reformed to correct the alleged mistake of failing to identify an intended occupant.

The plaintiff's lawyer, Jeffrey Turkel, of the law firm of Rosenberg & Estis, claimed that the defendants were not entitled to a renewal lease because the occupant of the apartment, Johnny Winter, was a subtenant of a corporation Ole Pa and that no particular individual is specified in the apartment lease as the intended occupant who occupies the apartment as a primary residence.

The Supreme Court rejected the Winters' claim that they should be deemed the "intended beneficiaries" of the lease and sided with the plaintiffs, stating that the defendants were not entitled to a renewal lease.