Attorneys for the Malkin family have asked a judge to dismiss the latest lawsuit brought by investors in the Empire State Building, saying the family gained immunity from such litigation as part of a $55 million settlement reached in November 2012.
The investors in the current suit allege that they lost $410 million in potential profit because the building’s managers, Peter and Anthony Malkin, did not entertain offers that would have generated a higher return than what investors received when the Malkins eventually rolled the Empire State Building into a new real estate investment trust, Bloomberg News reported.
The transfer of the Empire State Building to the REIT, the Empire State Realty Trust, came in at $1.89 million, far less than the $2.2 billion and more offered for the building, as The Real Deal previously reported.
Judge O. Peter Sherwood said he was inclined to believe the Malkins do in fact have immunity under the previously reached settlement, which he oversaw and approved, according to Bloomberg. [Bloomberg News] — Tom DiChristopher
