Court Denies Townhouse Owners' Bid to Add 'SLAPP-Back' Count to Complaint

NEW YORK - Brownstone townhouse owners suing a neighbor for allegedly causing water and mold damage while illegally adding a penthouse waited too long to file a "SLAPP-back" action in response to the neighbor's counterclaim, a New York judge has ruled. Mastrobattista, et al. v. Borges, et al., No. 111452/2006 (N.Y. Sup. Ct., N.Y. Cty.).

New York County Supreme Court Justice Saliann Scarpulla also denied plaintiffs' effort to add a professional malpractice claim against their neighbor's contractors or add a finance company as a defendant, but did allow new causes of action for breaches of a protective covenant and Real …