“Oh, you’re going to win… he’s the best.” – M.G.
I have lived in this building 300 East 74th St for over 12 years, no problems, nothing. Until we got a new super about 6 years ago and he was very sort of brutish, not a lot of social graces, he would sort of demand things and he and I kind of… I don’t like people who behave like that you know, I like people who are nice and kind and are gracious. Everybody complained about him but he got the job done.
So there was a little couple of incidents where the women below me who we later found out through Rachel [Sigmund], when I moved in here and we were doing work, she kept complaining about noise, this women who complained that I was noisy. I’m like first of all, I’m not a noisy person ok, I do my thing, sure every now and then I have people come over, I have friends ok. But what they found out and what I thought was genius work on the part of Rachel [Sigmund] was that when we did the renovations, because we gutted the whole apartment and she saw me “When are you going to be finished,” I was like we’ll be finished when were finished, I am really sorry but I got all the permits and permission and I was really nice to her but she complained umpteen times to the management. Then they found out when they did research there had been nobody working in here for 10 days and that she was complaining about noise.
I was on my way to the Caribbean for an event and I forgot my passport and it was a good thing I did because I came home and the next day there was an eviction notice on my door, for no reason at all! So I called him [Adam Leitman Bailey] I think it was that day and I got him on the phone and I told him [Adam Leitman Bailey] but Adam [Leitman Bailey] was tough on me and reduced me to tears. He was testing me, he wanted to see how much I wanted it and so the next time I spoke to him I said “were you testing me?” and he said “yes” and I said well how did I do? And he said great!
He [Adam Leitman Bailey] first of wrote to the board to the board, you know and he knew their lawyer. Finally we did the board meeting in January of 2016 and meanwhile no work had been done to my apartment.
And at this board meeting he said to me, he [Adam Leitman Bailey] told me what to wear and when I showed up he was like “You look perfect, Mara if you open your mouth, I’m leaving,” I said don’t worry and we had poker face. Don’t look just sit there and let me do all the talking, don’t open your mouth, don’t make any expression so my mum and I did. He started out so well his opening was brilliant and they were just in silence nobody said anything. Then when he did that thing, this was so great, this was Rachel’s [Sigmund] research about one of the board members not paying his maintenance while his apartment was being fixed and he wasn’t living here.
When I heard that, it was hard for me to keep my emotions to myself. But I did, I’m a good actress. But I was like wow! Rachel you did an amazing job, pardon my French that was great research!
So they decided [the board] they weren’t going to vote because I think they new that the case we had against them was pretty cut and dry. But Rachel was lovely, she reassured me, the thing is Adam is very tough and he can be a little heartless at times but he is really good, he knows his stuff and in fact I have recommended him to a number of people.
Last night I had dinner with a friend of mine who’s mother in law went through this horrible thing with her coop but they obviously didn’t have a good lawyer, I said too bad I didn’t know I would have recommended Adam. I have recommended him to a few people and the funniest thing was I was flying home to LA and this women she was with two guys who she works with and we all started laughing and talking and it turned out she was Rosario Dawson’s mother and I told here this has been a really hard time for me with my dad who has been in hospital and this and that and they are trying to evict me from my apartment and this is just the worst time for me. She said, “Do you have a good lawyer? And I said I believe so and she said, “is it Adam Leitman Bailey” and I said yes! She goes, “Oh your going to win, your going to win” and I go how do you know, how do you know and she goes “he’s the best, he’s the best I have used him.”
You know and she was so sweet and she came to sit next to me for a while and we started talking and she told me who she was, I didn’t know who she was then. She told me her name and I said oh are your any relation to Rosario Dawson and she said “yes that my daughter!” I said no way, I work in the entertainment business I love her. She was like “your in good hands, your going to win, your going to win” and I said from your lips to gods ears.
You know he didn’t, [Adam Leitman Bailey] you know how lawyers can be sort of sued if they give you too much promise and he was always very negative with me but I’m a negative person so I was always like I have to be fed more positives and Rachel [Sigmund] was so positive and was like your in really good hands you know, she was like the Yin and the Yang, she had the softness and then he’s the tough guy but she balances it and super smart, super smart.
But no, I would recommend them to anyone who has real estate problems.