Highest Court Tosses Lawsuit Seeking to Derail Local Law 97

The three-year legal battle is over, and Local Law 97 is still standing.

A panel of state Court of Appeals judges has dismissed a long-shot lawsuit that sought to overturn the city's ambitious climate law, Crain's reports. As of 2024, Local Law 97 has required owners of buildings larger than 25,000 square feet, including co-op and condo boards, to cut their carbon emissions or face fines. The carbon caps will become more stringent in future years.

Two Queens cooperatives — Glen Oaks Village and Bay Terrace Cooperative Section I —led the lawsuit, originally filed in 2022.

“It’s disappointing,” says Warren Schreiber, president of the Bay Terrace Cooperative Section I in eastern Queens and co-president of the Presidents Co-op and Condo Council (PCCC). “I don't believe that we have any other legal options. I disagree, but I respect the court.”

The court ruling cannot be appealed because the New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the state.

Nicholas Paolucci, a spokesman for the city’s Law Department, described the ruling as “a victory for public health and the environment.”

In a related development, Andrew Cuomo, the front-runner in the New York City mayor's race, met recently with a dozen co-op board presidents at a gathering sponsored by the PCCC. Cuomo told the gathering, according to a Crain's report, that he’s open to modifying Local Law 97 to make it less financially onerous for certain co-ops. Making changes to the law, however, would require city council legislation and would be a tough political fight. Cuomo, as an alternative, floated the possibility of directing the Department of Buildings (the city agency enforcing Local Law 97) to possibly limit penalties against co-ops that are working in good faith to comply with the law’s mandates.

“His words were good but actions speak louder, and obviously he is not the mayor right now,” says Bob Friedrich, president of the Glen Oaks Village co-op board and a co-president of the PCCC. “But he did say that he would be very supportive of the co-ops, if elected.”

Some environmental advocates cautioned against changes to Local Law 97.

“We understand concern for property owners, but we urge all mayoral candidates to be thoughtful and really look at the progress Local Law 97 is making,” says Eddie Bautista, executive director of the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance. “And work to assist owners rather than diluting a climate law, which we’re seeing too much of lately at the federal level.”