Trial Needed to Determine if Landlord Harassed Tenants

Tenants sued landlord in 2014, claiming that landlord harassed them in order to drive them out of their rent-stabilized apartments. Landlord asked the court to dismiss the harassment claims without trial. The court ruled for landlord in part. Since there was no mention in the court record of any allegations about landlord having participated in construction or trespass upon tenants' property, claims based on those allegations would be dismissed. But otherwise a trial was needed to determine the facts before deciding whether there had been harassment. Among other things, there were questions as to whether landlord directly or indirectly had control of the building, and whether individual named defendants were "de facto" building owners.

Dahl v. Prince Holdings 2012, LLC: Index No. 15743/2014, 2024 NY Slip Op 30436(U), NYLJ No. 1710480284 (Sup. Ct. NY; 2/14/24; d'Auguste, J)