Tenant Claims Sale of Housing Court Data Is Harmful

Apartment occupant sued landlord in State Supreme Court, and asked the court to declare that she had succession rights to tenant's rent-stabilized apartment. Occupant claimed that she was the life partner of deceased tenant. Occupant asked the court to stop landlord from bringing an eviction proceeding against her in housing court while her case was pending. She claimed that she would be permanently harmed if landlord went forward, because the housing court sold eviction case information to a private screening firm that, in turn, sold the information to landlords. Tenant said that this information created a "blacklist," and landlords used the information as a basis to refuse to rent to anyone whose name was on the list. The court ruled for tenant. Tenant showed that she would be irreparably harmed by the sale of her information by the housing court and was likely to succeed on the merits of her succession rights claim.

Weisent v. Subaqua Corp.: NYLJ, 7/17/07, p. 23, col. 1 (Sup. Ct. NY; Kapnick, J)