STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A New York City administrative judge dismissed more than 30 Staten Island eviction cases last week that included a tenant notice that read “Chinese Wuhan virus emergency,” instead of the court-mandated phrasing that should have said “coronavirus emergency.”
Civil Court Administrative Judge Anthony Cannataro threw out the cases in the borough’s housing court because of a failure to comply with notice requirements delineated in a court order issued late last year.
The development was first reported by Law360.
The court order, issued in November, required a brightly-colored flyer — in both English and Spanish — to be attached to new eviction petitions which state that a tenant may be eligible for special protections and defenses related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Teresa DeFonso, attorney in charge of the Legal Aid Society’s Staten Island Neighborhood Office, told the Advance/SILive.com during a phone interview that she was alerted of an alteration of the court-issued notices by a colleague who initially brought it to her attention.
The altered language was “offensive,” said DeFonso, and comes less than two months after Asian Staten Islanders held a moment of silence at Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden in Livingston to honor the lives of those who died at the hands of hatred in a springtime spike of hate crimes targeting Asians in the United States.
“Racism has no place in our court system, and this latest example unfortunately serves as a microcosm of what our clients, mostly those from communities of color, suffer on a routine basis,” DeFonso said in a written statement.
“This attorney and others are put on notice that Legal Aid will pursue you in the courts and in the press should you resort to these deplorable and xenophobic tactics to bully our clients,” added DeFonso.
After it was brought to the court’s attention, the cases were quickly dismissed, she noted.
“I really do commend them for doing that,” she said.
Nichole Lee, a landlord lawyer, is listed as the attorney of record on the dismissed cases, Law360 reported. She did not answer multiple phone calls or a text message seeking comment.
“I’m just waiting for them to pass universal rent control where they completely take away landlords’ rights to do what they want with private property,” she told Law360.
Lucian Chalfen, an Office of Court Administration spokesman, told the Advance/SILive.com that the alteration of “an authorized government form” was recently brought to the court system’s attention and is the first-known incident of its kind.
“Our Inspector General is investigating it,” said Chalfen. “Based on the misrepresentation of the court document, we administratively dismissed the cases in question.”
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Judge drops dozens of Staten Island eviction cases with ‘Chinese Wuhan virus’ notice - SILive.com
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