Sperm Bank Fighting Empire State Eviction

MANHATTAN (CN) - A blood and sperm bank located in the Empire State Building appealed to a judge to keep its specimens safe while it fights being evicted by its landlord.

In its complaint, Daxor Corporation says Empire State Realty Trust has wrongly declared it to be in breach of its lease and ordered it to see operations under threat of eviction.

Daxor uses part of its space in the Empire State Building for medical offices, and part for storage of its clients' blood for future transfusions and semen samples "so that [clients] will be able to have children at a later date," the complaint says.

Although it has been a tenant in the building since 2002, it says last month received a notice of default alleging it was "violating a substantial obligation of the Lease" by improperly "using, generating, manufacturing, storing and/or disposing of Hazardous Substances including radioactive and biohazard materials" without proper government permits or nitrogen tank enclosures.

The notice also accused them of violating the building's certificate of occupancy and New York City zoning laws by maintaining a laboratory, and of illegally taking in a separate laboratory organization as tenants, the complaint says.

The violation notice gives Daxor a 10-day "curative period" to remedy the alleged defaults, all of which the medical facility insists are not actual violations of the lease. The grace period expires next Wednesday, at which point the "Landlord may terminate this Lease on three days' notice," says the complaint.

An eviction would "irreparably damage" Daxor, the complaint says, leaving it unable to continue business operations and exposing it to a loss for which "no amount of money could possibly compensate."

They are seeking an injunction preventing Empire State Realty Trust from terminating their lease, and a judicial declaration stating that they are not in default of their lease. If the court does find that they violated their lease, Daxor says they are "ready, willing and able" to cure any defaults, but want an extension on the 10-day curative period in order to give them more time to do so.

Daxor is represented by Gary Wachtel of Manhattan.

Representatives of Empire State Realty Trust could not immediately be reached for comment.

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