Meyer Equities has filed a lawsuit against Harry Macklowe, claiming a decades-old right of first refusal agreement signed by Macklowe is obstructing a deal to acquire the Children’s Aid Society’s HQ at 150 East 45th St.

Meyer made an offer to buy the building for $28M in November.

Macklowe owned 147 East 44th St, on an adjoining lot just behind the building the suit concerns, in 1981 and at that time filed a right of first refusal agreement that gave him the right to match an offer on the building within 30 days, The Real Deal reports.

Macklowe sold 147 East 44th St to Boston Properties in 2008, which in turn sold it to Rockwood Capital in 2011.

The suit contends that the right of first refusal was legally transferred along with the ownership of the property, and that Macklowe can’t use it to do what Meyer Equities claims he’s in the process of doing: negotiating with the Children’s Aid Society to buy the property.

Meyer is asking that Rockwood Capital be legally recognized as the holder of the agreement, stopping any sale to Macklowe. [TRD]