DHCR Properly Served with Court Papers
LVT Number: 9448
Tenant appealed a DHCR order. The DHCR asked the court to dismiss the case, claiming that service was defective because tenant hadn't personally served the court papers at the DHCR office. The DHCR based its position on an agency regulation. Tenant argued that service was proper because she'd followed the law governing service of papers by sending the court papers to the DHCR by certified mail, and by personally delivering a copy to the State Attorney General's Office. The court ruled for tenant. When a law and an agency regulation have contradictory rules about proper service, the court will follow the law. Also, in this case, the law had been recently changed to make it easier to serve court papers on a state agency.
Guerre v. DHCR: NYLJ, p. 26, col. 5 (1/27/95) (Sup. Ct. NY; Glen, J)