Evicted Tenant Has No Valid Claims in Federal Court

Former tenant, an attorney representing himself, sued landlord, landlord’s attorneys, and a city marshal in federal court three years after he was evicted in 2008. Landlord had sued to evict tenant in 2006 for nonpayment of rent. Landlord later started a second court case to evict tenant after his unregulated lease expired. The court ruled for landlord in both cases, and two eviction warrants were issued. Tenant claimed that his due process rights were violated because the eviction warrant was illegally backdated, and that landlord and its attorneys engaged in fraud. The court granted the requests of landlord, its attorneys, and the marshal to dismiss the case. Tenant’s claim that due process was violated because the eviction notice was backdated was untimely. And, even if it was backdated, tenant was given due process in state court where he had the opportunity to defend himself. In any event, the marshal wasn’t at fault since he evicted tenant under an apparently valid eviction warrant. Tenant also claimed fraud by landlord and its attorneys for refusing to inform him whether landlord had received his certified check for rent arrears in the nonpayment case. But tenant could prove no harm if there was fraud because landlord was entitled to evict tenant under the eviction warrant issued in the holdover case where the rent payment wasn’t an issue.

Stern v. Regency Towers, LLC: Dckt. No. 11 Civ. 8824(JMF), 2012 WL 3264363 (SDNY; 8/10/12; Furman, DJ)