Before COVID-19 hit New York, the city was seeing an unprecedented series of lawsuits brought against real estate development by small groups of vocal, politically connected individuals. Although the legal arguments in these challenges were weak at best, many were initially successful in the lower courts. But now, these cases are being appealed, and higher courts reviewing them—against the backdrop of the current, pandemic-induced economic crisis—are seeing these weak legal claims for what they are.

That's what happened this summer in the Inwood rezoning and Two Bridges development cases. In each of those instances, we saw appellate courts reverse lower court decisions and reaffirm the critical right of City agencies to interpret and enforce their rules.