Hosler v. Northern Eagle Beverages, Inc

In Hosler v. Northern Eagle Beverages, Inc., 15 AD3d 925 (4th Dept 2005) the Fourth Department held that despite the fact that the homeowner lived in the house with her rent paying brother, and had a tenant in an apartment above her garage, "the house was structurally a single-family residence, and defendant's brother did not have separate living quarters" from the owner. Accordingly, the Court reasoned that the installation of a satellite dish "directly related to the residential use of the home", despite the shared commercial purpose of renting to tenants. Although the decision did not explicitly state that the homeowner's occupancy was the basis for the grant of the exemption, it was the residential as opposed to commercial nature of its use, that is, homeowner occupancy rather than rental to outside party, which provided the basis for the opinion.