Court Rules CEEFPA Applied to Ejectment Action

Landlord sued in State Supreme Court to eject tenant from co-op apartment. The court ruled for landlord and issued a judgment and a warrant in late 2020. Tenant then filed a hardship declaration pursuant to the COVID-19 Emergency Eviction and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2020 (CEEFPA) enacted on Dec. 28, 2020. Landlord argued that CEEFPA applied only in housing court eviction proceedings and didn't apply in ejectment actions. The court disagreed and ruled for tenant, granting a stay of eviction until May 1, 2021. Although the CEEFPA failed to specifically use the term "action" as applied to landlord-tenant disputes, the term "eviction proceeding" included NY's current hybrid common law and statutory actions for ejectment as applied to residential tenancies. If the legislature intended that CEEFPA applied only to summary eviction proceedings, it would have clearly stated that. 

Jacob Cram Coop Inc. v. Ziolkowski: Index No. 156980/2017, NYLJ No. 1612830135 (Sup. Ct. NY; 1/22/21; James, J)