Landlord's Attorneys Sanctioned

Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized tenant for nonprimary residence. Tenant died after the case started, but his roommate claimed pass-on rights as a nontraditional family member. Before tenant died, the court gave landlord permission to conduct pretrial questioning of tenant and his roommate. During that questioning, they named other family members who had information about their relationship. Landlord then made a motion to conduct pretrial questioning of two family members. Landlord's attorneys sent copies of the motion both to tenant's attorneys and directly to the family members. Before the date that the motion was to be heard in court, landlord's attorneys scheduled and conducted examinations of the two witnesses, without telling tenant's attorneys. When they found out, tenant's attorneys asked the court to dismiss the case and to sanction landlord's attorneys.
The court ruled for tenant in part. The case wasn't dismissed, but the pretrial testimony of the two witnesses was quashed, landlord had to pay attorney's fees for tenant's motion to dismiss, and landlord's attorneys were disqualified from the case. The court gave landlord 45 days to find a new attorney and said that landlord could continue to make proper requests for pretrial questioning.

Nagel v. Grayson: 2009 NY Slip Op 29137 (3/27/09) (Civ. Ct. NY; Capella, J)