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re: New Allegation in the Notice of Termination

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Update

Postby innocent1997 » Sun Dec 08, 2013 8:34 pm

Traverse Hearing update and insight sharing.

In the decision made by the judge, the petitioner law firm (for landlord)and the specific lawyer, were not listed in the written decision at all. This made me wonder why. As a result, upon further research by me, I noticed that the judge had worked for the landlord's law firm before.

Second of all, the GPS record presented by process server during trial was not admitted to evidence as it was not from qualified third party. I recall that Tenantnet posted a case in which GPS record was not admitted as evidence and the judge in that case listed this point in his decision still. However, the judge in my case left out the GPS issue completely from his written decision as if GPS issue was not an issue at all. This also made me wonder why the judge in my case did not consider the unqualified GPS record in the written decision.

Third, at the end of written decision, it makes no mention of the process to pick up the exhibits and evidence. In my case, the missing affidavit of service of process server (which then reappeared and then disappeared again) was the crux of the matter. To leave out the process to pick up the exhibits in the decision seem rather strange (at least to me).
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Postby innocent1997 » Thu Dec 19, 2013 9:00 pm

Case got adjourned by court due to busy schedule.

The petitioner attorney made a threat to me outside of court room that we, tenants, are wasting everyone's time because the lease is not rent stabilized anyway. At the end, tenants leases won't be renewed. The attorney was very loud and wanted to intimidate us , especially putting on a show in front of the building owner who was in court also.

As a result, I studied the rent history. It appears that the legal rent jumped by 35% when our previous tenant moved in. To have such a huge increase, it requires at least 8,000 usd of individual apartment improvement (already took into account the vacancy increase of 20%). Based on the apartment condition such as the old stove etc, squeaky floor, poor plumbing system, I suspect the IAI is overstated. Had the IAI not included, my current apartment could be rent stabilized.

As a result, I decided to find some ways to make such complaints to DHCR regarding the rent stabilization coverage eligibility. My question is what reports I should file with the DHCR? I know there is a rent overcharge form, but I am not sure if it applies to my case since it could be the legal rent is overstated.

On other hand, should I just make this as part of an amended answer during the trial to the judge and the judge will order DHCR to investigate?

Any views are appreciated. Thx
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Postby TenantNet » Thu Dec 19, 2013 9:26 pm

Busy schedule = that always happens around Christmas. Process servers make a killing with eviction notices on Christmas Eve - it's deliberate.

LL atty threatening you ... what else is new? They thrive on intimidation.

Just do your homework on the calculations and hope you don't get a horrible judge.

If you feel the overcharge was fraudulent, then you should investigate cases that city the Grimm case. That allows calculations to go beyond the four year SOL.
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Postby innocent1997 » Fri Dec 20, 2013 8:39 am

Thank you, I will keep things in perspective.

I also found out that there are lots of appearance of lack of independence in housing court.

for instance, the attorneys for petitioners can go to the trial scheduling room at will, chatting with the one person at will for anything at length and even sitting in the room when the attorney's name has not been called upon yet. While I see some tenants go in the room and ask the timing etc, the court personnel would rudely sent them away. The court appears to make the tenants to wait the whole day just to find out when they need to be rescheduled. On other hand, petitioner attorney seems to have inside information knowing already whether the trial would happen on that day. I may be pointing the obvious above but like to share regardless the observation for other fellow tenants who will go to court for first time.
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re: Petitioner attorney trying to bully and intimidate

Postby innocent1997 » Mon Jan 06, 2014 7:50 pm

This post is intended for fellow tenants so that they know the housing court proceeding and not being bullied by obnoxious attorneys.

Today, I waited the whole day only to find out that the case is adjourned again. Landlord was never there the whole day but the landlord attorney was there since the attorney had to be there anyway for many cases.

Both landlord and I have restrictions on the dates that we could make in the next hearing in front of the court clerk. However, the landlord attorney was forcing me to agree on the date to landlord's favor. I stood my ground firmly.

To mediate the situation, the court clerk proposed a separate but later date. Then attorney called the landlord again checking landlord's availability. While the attorney was still on the phone with landlord, the attorney started yelling at me and the court clerk with saying "stop it guys" again. I am quite surprised that the attorney would be even rude to the "court clerk" also (probably due to the court clerk trying to mediate the situation). The landlord attorney said that he had to bring me in front of a judge immediately to deposit rent. (In all honesty, I think this attorney is putting on a show in front of the landlord which pays his bills)

10 minutes later, the attorney did bring me in front of a judge to file a motion to deposit one month's rent. Judge DID NOT grant the motion to deposit the rent after hearing statements from both the attorney and myself. In addition, the judge adjourned the trial to the date that the court clerk suggested to us.
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Postby TenantNet » Mon Jan 06, 2014 8:17 pm

Just curious who is the judge (what borough) and who is the LL attorney? Probably best to respond by private mail.
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Postby innocent1997 » Tue Feb 04, 2014 4:24 pm

I was scheduled for trial today, and court attorney for the trial judge initiates a off-the-record discussion in trial room with respondents (me) and the petitioner attorney. It was quite interesting, because the judge was in the same room but not part of the discussion.

As the petitioner presented the holdover case to the court attorney, I explained my defenses also. After the discussion, court attorney tried to mediate and hoping to have it settled. However, what each side wanted was too far apart.

I anticipated the trial to proceed immediately, but the petitioner attorney withdrew the holdover petition. My speculation is that the landlord knew that the holdover case was weak. The petitioner attorney though hinted/threatened to bring a non-payment case or a combined nonpayment/holdover case after this withdrawal.

Quick Questions:

1) Can the landlord bring a combined nonpayment/holdover case? If so, what is it? I thought it is either nonpayment OR holdover based on my research.

2) Since landlord withdraws the holdover, can the landlord bring up again the same allegations that were brought up previously in the withdrawn holdover case?

thanks
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Postby TenantNet » Tue Feb 04, 2014 4:39 pm

How did he withdraw the case? By stip or by motion? With or without prejudice? If without prejudice, they can bring up the same allegations again.

Did the judge sign it?

Remind me of the main thrust of the case so I don't have to read through all the prior posts. Do you have the LL's petition? Can you send that by PDF to our email (tenant at tenant.net)?

Any holdover proceeding can request outstanding rent. It is essentially a holdover, but while we're litigating that, we also want the rent.
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Postby innocent1997 » Tue Feb 04, 2014 5:20 pm

Everything happened too fast, as I may not have clearly heard what the petitioner said. During the whole conferencing, the judge was just sitting there and not involved (at least when I was in the court room). I asked if there is any document to show the withdrawal, the court attorney said "no" as everything would be in the computer. No one informed me whether it is withdrawn with or without prejudice.

The case is about landlord using the basis of nuisance (due to our toddler playing) and refusal of access to evict us. We counterclaimed that it's a retaliatory eviction due to lead paint violation (class C by HPD) was found in our apartment.

In addition, there was an issue of missing affidavit of service by process server filed with the court prior to trial and reappearing last minute during trial. Traverse was conducted but was overruled in a controversial fashion.
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Re: re: New Allegation in the Notice of Termination

Postby innocent1997 » Thu May 29, 2014 2:05 pm

Dear all,

I am in court as respondent and have experienced a few things that want to seek your inputs.

1. I served a subpoena to landlord (order already signed by court judge). However, the landlord brought a copy of response to respondents' subpoena for records. The response said that petitioner objects to the items because they are being over broad and unduly burdensome.

What should I do to enforce this subpoena now?

2. Court attorney apparently advised the resolution part judge that she should skip me and just send me to trial part. As a result, I never got to talk to the 1st judge. As a result, I could not bring up the non compliance issue to the 1st judge.

Does this defeat the whole purpose of check and balance if the resolution part denies me the opportunity to speak with the resolution judge?

3. The court personnel said that once its sent to the trial part, I am no longer able to speak to a judge other than a trial judge. However, I remember that the landlord attorney took me in front of a separate judge previously. Is it different between tenants and landlords attorney rights?

4. Lastly settlement, the court pro se attorney advised me that all settlement with landlord will likely carry a judgement with landlord such as judgement for possession . Is this the case?
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Re: re: New Allegation in the Notice of Termination

Postby TenantNet » Thu May 29, 2014 5:35 pm

Sounds like the LL is making a Motion to Quash the subpoena. That happens a lot, and yes, claiming it is overbroad is typical. So be prepared when you argue on the motion to defend each of the items you are seeking as necessary for your defense. Check with the Pro Se Attorney (or Volunteer Attorney) on the mechanics of how to do this. Show them what you got. If you wish, you can attach it to a PM to me (pdf).

You have/had a right to make a motion to the Resolution judge, but it sounds like it might be too late. To be honest, I do not know if you can return to the Resolution judge. Lawyers who are in court every day - and they know the judges on a first name basis - will often take advantage of that familiarity.

On settlement, that is NOT true. Settlements DO NOT automatically include a judgement for the LL. Many LL attorneys try to high-pressure tenants into this, which is why you need to be fully aware of the dangers and refuse to sign anything like that.

Just curious, What borough? What judge? What court attorney do you have? Please PM the info. (I can't do anything about it, but am curious).
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