Landlord Must Pay Tenant $4,600 for Discarding Possessions After Eviction

Former tenant sued landlord after he was evicted based on loss of personal property. The marshal removed tenant’s property from the apartment and stored it in landlord’s garage at the building. Tenant went to retrieve some of his things, left others, and told landlord he needed to return a few times to complete the property retrieval. Landlord refused tenant further access and discarded the remaining property. Tenant claimed that the items landlord threw out were worth more than $5,000. But the court’s arbitrator awarded tenant only $4,600 based on what he could prove. Landlord was responsible for negligent damage to tenant’s property because landlord became a bailee when it held tenant’s property after eviction.

Crawley v. Johnston: Index No. 2983/2015, NYLJ No. 1202761664465 (Civ. Ct. Queens; 5/30/16; Frederick, Arb.)