Worst Nightmare of Tenant Forced Out for a Pittance
Faced with an accurately self-described “your worst nightmare” of a tenant, a landlord retained Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. to bring a nuisance proceeding to have the tenant evicted after she had chased out numerous decent tenants from the building and sexually assaulted the building superintendent’s wife. Amongst the tenant’s antics were abusive and obscene voicemails, threats of physical violence against building residents and staff, a YouTube posting of cruelty to a pet cat inside the tenant’s apartment, and Facebook postings boasting of her sexual assault. However, as with any nuisance case, all the people who were most hurt by this tenant did not want to come to court. To top it off, the tenant denied the authenticity of all of the electronic evidence. After successfully defending against the tenant’s motion to dismiss the case based on alleged technicalities concerning the notice of termination of the tenant’s tenancy, the landlord was faced with a great case and no way to prove it. However, taking advantage of the fact that all housing court proceedings are voice recorded, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. went into court prepared to verify the voicemails with a voice printing expert who would compare the court’s own recordings against the voicemails. With Facebook having refused to honor a New York subpoena, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. set up its California contacts to serve a California subpoena. With these, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. was prepared to win the case, despite the unwillingness of other building residents to testify against the tenant. Thus faced with an avalanche of proof, the tenant capitulated, accepting a modest buyout and quick exit from the building, under city marshal escort if necessary. Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. worked in a discount of the settlement based on rental payments that the tenant failed to make while the case was pending.
Adam Leitman Bailey and Dov Treiman directed marshaling the evidence, and Vladimir Mironenko hammered out the settlement.