1995 CAM LLC v West Side Advisors, LLC

🚨 Court of Appeals Shakes Up Good-Guy Guaranty Law 🚨

Big development out of Albany.

In 1995 CAM LLC v West Side Advisors, LLC, the Court of Appeals overturned what had been a long, consistent line of lower and appellate authority holding that when a good-guy guaranty incorporates the lease, the lease’s “no surrender without written consent” clause applies — meaning a guarantor isn’t released unless the landlord formally accepts the surrender in writing. An absurd interpretation that turns a "good guy" guaranty into a full recourse guaranty.

This is a major shift that upends years of (terrible) precedent and will have real implications for how landlords, tenants, and guarantors negotiate and enforce good-guy clauses going forward.

https://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2025/2025_05782.htm