Occupant Must Submit Requested Documents to Landlord

(Decision submitted by William J. Neville of the Manhattan law firm of Mitofsky & Shapiro, attorneys for the landlord.) Landlord sued to evict apartment occupant after rent-stabilized tenant moved out. Occupant claimed she had pass-on rights to the apartment. Landlord asked that pre-trial questioning be permitted and that occupant produce certain documents related to her claim. Occupant agreed to the pretrial questioning but canceled on three different dates. Landlord then asked the court to strike occupant's answer to landlord's holdover petition. The court ruled for landlord. Occupant's answer would be stricken unless she produced the requested documents by a specified date and appeared for pretrial questioning a week later. Occupant may have had a reasonable excuse for not appearing for pre-trial questioning on the past dates, but there was no excuse for not producing the agreed-upon documents.

West 56 & 57th St. Corp. v. Tracy: L&T Index No. 58189/98 (6/26/98) (Civ. Ct. NY; Lau, J) [4-page document]