Goldfarb v. Goldfarb (1982)

Goldfarb v. Goldfarb, 86 A.D.2d 459 , 450 N.Y.S.2d 212, 214 (App. Div.2d Dep’t 1982) (citations omitted).

The district court held that under New York law a contract may be affected “ ‘by a subsequent statute announcing a new public policy ... or by repeal of a prohibitory act.’ ” Goldfarb v. Goldfarb, 86 A.D.2d 459, 461 , 450 N.Y.S.2d 212, 214 (1982) (quoting 10 N.Y.Jur., Contracts § 129, at 23-24 (1960)).

The rule there only applies to “acts of the Legislature which are strictly measures of public policy, not to those which are intended primarily to establish or affect the rights of parties to each other.” Goldfarb v. Goldfarb, 450 N.Y.S.2d 212, 214 , 86 A.D.2d 459, 461 (N.Y.App.Div.1982).

Healy, Esq.) that attempts, in out of state cases, to “level the playing field” or of “equalization of bargaining power,” does not serve a broad public purpose, the Court in Matter of Duell ( 84 NY2d at 783 ) applied the statute retroactively to leases executed prior to the effective date of the statute since “[t]he remedial nature of the Legislature’s action to equalize the power of landlords and tenants is evident from both the language of the statute as well as historical…

It is true, as the Appellants assert, that in New York “[w]hen there has been a repeal of a prohibitory statute, which had rendered invalid a contract violative of its provisions, such a repeal will render the contract valid and enforceable.” Goldfarb v. Goldfarb, 86 A.D.2d 459, 461 , 450 N.Y.S.2d 212, 214 (Sup.Ct.App.Div.1982).

See Goldfarb v. Goldfarb, 86 A.D.2d 459 , 450 N.Y.S.2d 212, 214 (1982) (contracts made by parties necessarily construed in light of the applicable law at time of execution); Rothberg v. Loeb, Rhoades & Co., 445 F.Supp 1336, 1339 (S.D.N.Y.1978) (New York courts apply federal, not state, arbitration law where underlying transactions involve interstate commerce, even though contract contains New York choice-of-law provision); Hornblower & Weeks-Hemphill Noyes, Inc. v. Csaky, 42…