Court Quashes Landlord's Trial Subpoenas

Landlord sued to evict tenant. The court granted tenant's request to quash subpoenas landlord sent to non-parties seeking records relevant to eviction issues. Landlord asked to reargue the request, seeking a different decision. Landlord admitted that it didn't notify tenant's attorney of the items received in response to the subpoenas because it wanted to review them first to determine if they could be used for trial. The court found that this conduct went against the letter and spirit of laws governing trial subpoenas. Landlord improperly used the subpoenas for pre-trial document production without getting permission from the housing court to conduct discovery. Landlord also re-subpoenaed the same entities after the court quashed the prior subpoenas. The court again ruled against landlord and quashed the subpoenas.

RPN Mgmt. Co. v. Gonzalez: Index No. 78200/2014, NYLJ No. 152098627 (Civ. Ct. NY; 3/1/18; Stoller, J)