Nassau real estate fee dispute includes $7.5M bill for legal work

Lawyers who successfully challenged a Nassau County real estate fee are seeking $7.5 million in attorney fees from the county, and a "service award" of $50,000 for the plaintiff, a request county lawyers call "fictitious" and "frivolous."

The sparring stems from a long-running legal dispute over Nassau's $355 tax map verification fee, which generates more than $40 million annually for the county. Jericho homeowner Jeffrey Falk filed suit over the charge in 2017, and in 2020 a State Supreme Court Justice ruled the fee was "excessive," as well as an unconstitutional and unlawful tax.

In April, a state appellate court unanimously upheld the lower court's ruling. The County Legislature then reduced the fee to $270 at the urging of County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican.

Attorneys from McLaughlin & Stern LLP, a Manhattan law firm that represents Falk, then asked a judge to hold the county in contempt of court for arbitrarily cutting the fee instead of eliminating it. No ruling has been made.

In August, Falk's attorneys, Lee Shalov and Jason Giaimo, first raised the issue of attorney fees and the "service award." The lawyers said they produced a significant tax savings for Nassau property owners — about $150 million over 10 years.

The firm deserves 5% of "the benefit conferred over the next ten years," which amounts to $7.5 million, Shalov and Giaimo wrote in a court filing.

The award was "fair and reasonable" due to several factors, including "the amount of time and effort" his team spent on the case, "the complexity of the litigation" and "the skill with which the services were performed," the lawyers wrote.

The firm billed a total of 938 hours for work on the case over six years, and attorneys and staff are owed a total of $548,138.75, Giaimo wrote.

County attorneys said the motion was "frivolous."

Ian Bergström, deputy county attorney, wrote that the "Supreme Court of Nassau County did not award class action certification, attorney fees, and/or expenses."

Bergström, who said the lawyers included no billing records, questioned the idea of a "service award."

"Mr. Falk is simply wasting judicial municipal resources litigating frivolous legal theories," he wrote. 

"Moreover, the requested 'service award' is a fictitious concept. Nassau County does not award individuals 'service award[s]," Bergström continued. "Mr. Falk apparently demands the purported service award analogous to “The President’s Volunteer Service Award.' "

Bergström continued, "Nassau County is a municipal corporation, political subdivision, and department, so attorney fees are not recoverable herein."

A spokesman for Blakeman declined to comment.

Josh Vlasto, a spokesman for the attorneys, said in a statement that the lawyers "obtained a number of precedent setting results on behalf of Nassau County residents."

Vlasto said the lawyers are asking for a "nominal percentage" of the total savings.

"Without Plaintiff and his counsel, Nassau County would have collected nearly half a billion dollars in unlawful fees over the next 10 years. But as a result of the successful prosecution of this litigation, Plaintiff and his counsel will spare Nassau County residents hundreds of millions of dollars."

By Scott Eidler

scott.eidler@newsday.com@ScottEidler

Scott Eidler covers Nassau County government and politics for Newsday. Scott has worked at Newsday since 2012 and previously covered municipal government and education.