Court Denies Tenant's Request to Disqualify Landlord's Attorney

August 24, 2021

LVT Number: #31546

Landlord sued month-to-month tenant who had moved out of an apartment, leaving behind a roommate that tenant had fought with during the COVID-19 pandemic after the roommate lost her job, couldn't pay her share of the rent, and things became contentious. At one point, tenant had commenced a lawsuit against the roommate but that remained unresolved. While seeking dismissal of various claims made by landlord, tenant also asked the court to disqualify landlord's attorney.

Landlord sued month-to-month tenant who had moved out of an apartment, leaving behind a roommate that tenant had fought with during the COVID-19 pandemic after the roommate lost her job, couldn't pay her share of the rent, and things became contentious. At one point, tenant had commenced a lawsuit against the roommate but that remained unresolved. While seeking dismissal of various claims made by landlord, tenant also asked the court to disqualify landlord's attorney. Tenant claimed that the attorney had discussed the substance of tenant's lawsuit against the roommate with him.

The court ruled against tenant. Since there was no specific legal task performed for tenant by landlord's attorney, there was no prior landlord-tenant relationship between the attorney and tenant. And, even if the attorney ended up being a witness in this case, he hadn't appeared for landlord in this case so far. So there was no reason to disqualify landlord's attorney.

25-86 41st St. LLC v. Chong: Index No. 704854/2021, 2021 NY Slip Op 31982(U)(Sup. Ct. Queens; 7/9/21; McDonald, J)

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