Legal Question in Discrimination Law in New York

Discrimination lawsuit

I moved to my girlfriend's apartment in nyc a year ago. I own a dog, but her lease has a no pet clause that I knew nothing about. My name is not on the lease. The building owner filed a notice to cure, but did not do so within 90 days of knowing my dog was here. We fought and won, sort of. There was an agreement that we could stay until the lease expired on October 31, and there would be no renewal. Today, we got served with an eviction notice, two weeks before the lease expires. We do not know why the notice was filed, and we feel the landlord has violated the agreement.

The core of my question is this: There are at least two other dogs in the building we're in, but the landlord has never gone after the other owners, or served them any kind of notice. The story is that two tenants are only pet sitting, but these dogs are here on a 24/7 basis. My dog has never messed in the apartment, does not bark, and is not a nuisance of any kind. The other small dogs bark all the time in the hallways when being taken out. Anyway, we feel that my girlfriend did not violate her lease because she does not own a pet. Fighting the case cost $1500. We feel like we're being discriminated against, and harrassed. Can we sue?


Asked on 10/16/08, 9:08 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Steven Mark Steven Paul Mark, Attorney at Law

Re: Discrimination lawsuit

Sure you can sue. I'm not aware of any discrimination claim you could make but you can draft a summons and complaint, have it served and spin your wheels for a couple of years before the case is ever heard. Along the way, you'll probably have to respond to a variety of motions failing which you'll end up losing and possibly being responsible. Why don't you just call the landlord's attorney and try to find out what this is about and why they're doing this with only 2 weeks left on the lease. If they're not responsive your choices are to ignore the notice (it will take more than 2 weeks for this to even come to fruition) or contest it. Read this as it may be helpful:

http://www.nycourts.gov/courts/nyc/housing/pdfs/tenantsguide.pdf

Read more
Answered on 10/16/08, 11:14 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Other Discrimination Law (Age, Race, Sex, Gender) questions and answers in New York