74 Tenants Can Sue Separate Landlords in One Action Seeking Class Certification

Seventy-four tenants sued a number of landlords of different buildings for rent overcharge in one lawsuit that they sought to designate as a class action. Tenants claimed that there was a systematic effort orchestrated by one management company that handled all the buildings for landlords. Landlords asked the court to dismiss the case.

The court ruled for landlords only in part, finding that the managing agent, acting on behalf of disclosed principals, should be dismissed from the case. But the court otherwise denied landlords' request. Landlords later made a second request to dismiss the class action based on some of the same arguments. 

The court ruled against landlords. It was premature to dismiss the claim for a class action before fact finding that would result in a ruling on whether there would be class certification. And landlords need not have a formal corporate relationship to be sued together. It also didn't matter that the managing agent couldn't be held directly liable for illegal actions for the benefit of its client landlords. And it was clear from court papers that individual tenants in the case were only seeking damages from their respective landlords. The doctrine of primary jurisdiction also was inapplicable given the language of HSTPA and the April 2020 decision of New York's highest court in Collazo v. Netherland Prop. Assets LLC.  

Yen Chang v. Westside 309 LLC: Index No. 153031/2018, 2020 NY Slip Op 31995(U)(Sup. Ct. NY; 6/26/20; Kalish, J)