Lawyers for Joan Rivers, condo board settle suit over barred resident

Judge helps resolve $15M suit filed against condominium by unit owner

The late Joan Rivers and 1 East 62nd Street
The late Joan Rivers and 1 East 62nd Street

UPDATED, September 5, 5:40 p.m.: Lawyers for the late comedienne Joan Rivers and other condominium board members settled a $15 million lawsuit with a resident of an Upper East Side building who was allegedly squatting. The agreement came before news of Rivers’ death broke on Thursday.

Elizabeth Hazan, resident and real estate agent, has been battling with the condo board at 1 East 62nd Street – of which Rivers was president – over unpaid condo fees. Hazan paid $1.85 million for a unit there in 2005, and fell behind in mortgage payments and condo fees, court records show. The building claimed that Hazan owed more than $200,000 in common charges.

Hazan transferred the property in 2011 to Raymond Houle, but the condo is now held in the name of Real Estate Holdings Group LLC, which last year sued the condo board for $15 million. This agreement ended that litigation.

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The suit was resolved after three hours of Meetings With Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Anil Singh, though the details of the agreement were not disclosed to the New York Daily News.

Rivers, who went into cardiac arrest after a medical procedure last week, died today from complications from the surgery. [NYDN] — TRD