“Adam Leitman Bailey put together a really talented group of wonderful people” – B.W. and J.B.
Could you briefly explain the situation or problem that led you to seek legal help?
Well, I’ve lived in a rent stabilized apartment on the upper west side of Manhattan for about 17 years. We love the place. Jason moved in about ten (10) years ago and right after 911 and it has been our sanctuary and our party pad and our showroom and our home for years. We love it there – we both work at home – and so we very attached to our place and we are very happy there. A couple of years ago, a man brought the building and threw all of our neighbors out except us and tried to throw us out too but instead we called Adam who is …. saved our apartment. We found out today and we couldn’t be happier.
Why was he trying to throw you out?
Well, it was an owner’s use occupancy case. The landlord was claiming that he was going to live there and use the building as a single family residence for his own personal use. But we saw of watched every one of our neighbors get thrown out. The two 62 year old ladies who lived above us who was there since the 70’s and our neighbor downstairs who was in his 90’s -they were trying to put him out and harassing him and our next door neighbors first apartment in the city, they lost their apartment – – so we kind of watched him victimized all of our neighbors and then watched nothing happen to their apartments – watched their apartments vacant. Actually, in one of our dinner parties, which we are famous for – the maxi pad. Somebody, actually it was a date of one of my clients heard our tale of woe cause we just gotten our Golub Notice and he said you have to call Adam Bailey. This is a really tough situation and this is the guy you gotta call. He makes miracles happen and so we did. We are so happy we did.
What were your first impressions when you first met the firm?
I felt that Adam was really aggressive. I felt that he was really listening to what we had to say and you know we were actually right on the verge of getting married. They served us our eviction notice three weeks before our wedding. So it was very reassuring to talk to Adam you know to be able to go ahead and get married and know that Adam was in place and that he was going to watch out for us and that he reassured me that everything was going to be okay. Our first impressions were that we did the right thing in listening to our friend, Dave, in calling Adam.
If you could explain what Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. did for you?
Adam and the whole team…I mean from Carolyn Rualo… from the beginning was so soothing and nurturing and Adam and Dov Trieman who has been our anchor through this and also has become a good friend and Christopher Halligan — everybody has been fantastic. So, one of the things that Adam Leitman Bailey really did for us was put together a really talented group of wonderful people that we actually really felt were not only our lawyers but our friends. Also, what I really liked is I felt very involved with the way the case was tried. I felt like I was listened to like Dov listened to me. Chris would listen to me and I did a lot of my own research for this case and so they were really helpful with guiding me and allowing me to participate and listening to my arguments and incorporating in what I had to say and what our experiences were with our situation into the legal defense so I felt very involved in like they were responsive and didn’t belittle my contributions because I am not an attorney or you know not listening to what I have to say and I really think that that is part of what made this such a winning and successful endeavor that it was such communication – – good communications between us and our whole team.
You are keeping your Apartment? You are not getting kicked out, correct?
No. We won. Today, we found out. We got a call from Dov who said “When are coming to Belkshire, New York for your victory celebration.” And I said, “wait, what…what is happening, what is going on?” He said, I just told you, “when are coming for your victory celebration” and about five minutes later Jason was like, wait, what, what happened? It took awhile to sink in. I think about ten minutes later he started screaming on the phone. It’s been a long and hard battle and you know the other thing is that Adam did not give up on us. He believed in our case and fought through to the end with us even though we were in way over our heads and for that we will be eternally grateful.
Now, you said that the landlord was trying to convert this building into – you said that he was going to convert it to a single family home? How did our firm discovery that that was not the case?
Because I really liked Harriet the spy when I was growing up – – we did a lot of our own investigative research for this and so we would just basically would tell Dov like everything that we noticed and he would tell us what to watch out for and Dov was great because we work at home and we were able to gather a lot of not only enough the evidence in just not only what we were seeing around us but I did a lot of internet research and Dov would tell me no, that is not important but this could be – – look in this direction so together I could do the footwork and Dov was really good at guiding us and letting us know what we needed to be finding out. I am sure at times he was like, “oh m god, this crazy broad is barraging me with paper work. He was always really patient, looked at everything and you know which sort of helped us what we needed to find.
Did you have to go to trial?
We did go to trial— on Jason’s birthday.
How long were you in litigation for?
The trial lasted three months, March, April and May and so it was lengthy. The whole process was pretty lengthy because the landlord fought us every step of the way. But we did go to trial and we prevailed.
Were there any challenges you faced during the trial?
You know it’s a nerve whacking experience going to trial. But you know Christopher was great and very reassuring and I actually felt really at ease once we saw Mr. Halligan walk through the door every morning so really it was just about nerves and about having to face off somebody in front of a judge this is really trying to mess with your world and it’s all very uncertain and you don’t know what is going to happen. I never forget that day waiting to see which judge we were going to get. Halligan was pacing back and forth – back and forth – back and forth. It was really…..he was really vested in which judge we got and I felt like he cared because he was doing that.
Are there any last comments to add before we are done?
We love you guys!!! Hire Adam Leitman Bailey. He rocks!!!