But Chase executives deny that the lease dispute has anything to do with the pending sale of the building at 510 Fifth Avenue.

The law is clear on this, he said, characterizing the city's lease dispute as a smoke screen intended to mask censorship.

But all that changed in late summer, when protests at his Harlem store, prompted by a lease dispute, took on an ugly dimension.

At the bottom of the case is a lease dispute, and those can turn thorny almost anywhere, of course.

But Mr. Steinborn said casework has taught him something he missed in street fights and lease disputes: the hidden hurt that most of his clients feel.

The protests at Freddy's began over a lease dispute when the store moved to take over space from a black-owned record shop next door.

Participants differ on the details, but New York Cross Harbor has extensive tax and lease disputes with the city and others.

Bridgeport officials confirmed there was no lease dispute with the ferry company.

The bank first retained Mr. Zeltser to handle lease disputes in New York.

A little more than a year ago, Harlem was devastated when eight people were killed in a fire at Freddy's, a clothing store, after a racially charged lease dispute.