Tenant Can't Vacate Post-Eviction Settlement Agreement

Landlord sued to evict tenant and obtained a final judgment based on tenant’s failure to appear in court. Tenant and her subtenants were evicted. Tenant later sought to vacate the default judgment and, after lengthy negotiations between attorneys for both sides, landlord and tenant signed a settlement agreement. Landlord waived unpaid rent and compensated tenant for lost personal property. Tenant dropped all outstanding claims against landlord.

A year later, tenant asked the court to vacate the settlement agreement. She claimed that she had been depressed, under stress, and was pressured by her attorney to sign the settlement stipulation. She also claimed that the compensation she received from landlord was inadequate and that the predicate notices to the eviction were defective.

The court ruled against tenant, who appealed and lost. Settlement agreements are favored by the courts and not lightly cast aside. Tenant offered no facts to support a belief that the valuation of her lost property was so inequitable that the agreement should be cast aside. Tenant also didn’t demonstrate that she was incompetent when she signed the agreement. And any challenge to the predicate notices was waived by signing the settlement agreement.

Ng v. Chalasani: 51 Misc.3d 134(A), 2016 NY Slip Op 50544(U) (App. T. 2 Dept.; 4/6/16; Pesce, PJ, Weston, Solomon, JJ)