Tenant Claims Discrimination Based on Mental Illness

February 17, 2015

LVT Number: #25967

Landlord notified cooperative shareholder tenant in 2008 that he was in breach of his lease for failing to carpet 90 percent of his apartment floors and for refusing access to Verizon for installation of FIOS service. Landlord then started an eviction proceeding against tenant. Tenant in turn sued landlord, claiming harassment and housing discrimination. Tenant said he suffered from depression and that this was a disability. The court granted landlord's request to dismiss the case. Tenant appealed, and the appeals court reopened the case. There were questions of fact requiring a trial.

Landlord notified cooperative shareholder tenant in 2008 that he was in breach of his lease for failing to carpet 90 percent of his apartment floors and for refusing access to Verizon for installation of FIOS service. Landlord then started an eviction proceeding against tenant. Tenant in turn sued landlord, claiming harassment and housing discrimination. Tenant said he suffered from depression and that this was a disability. The court granted landlord's request to dismiss the case. Tenant appealed, and the appeals court reopened the case. There were questions of fact requiring a trial. Tenant claimed that when landlord learned that tenant suffered from a mental illness, it engaged in a course of conduct against him that spanned several years and predated landlord's decision to enforce the rule requiring carpeting in the apartment. 

Curley v. Bon Aire Properties, Inc.: 2015 NY Slip Op 00718, 2015 WL 361094 (App. Div. 2 Dept.; 1/28/15; Hall, JP, Cohen, Hinds-Radix, LaSalle, JJ)

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