Tenant Excused for Mistake in Mailing Response to Deregulation Notice

(Decision submitted by David S. Hershey-Webb of the Manhattan law firm of Himmselstein, McConnell, Gribben, Donoghue & Joseph, attorneys for the tenant.) Landlord applied for high-rent/high-income deregulation of tenant's apartment in 2003. The DRA ruled for landlord based on tenant's failure to answer the notice of landlord's application. Tenant appealed, claiming that she mistakenly mailed her answer to landlord instead of to the DHCR. She said she made this mistake because of medical, health, and other personal problems. Landlord didn't deny receiving tenant's answer. The DHCR ruled for tenant and reopened the case to consider whether tenant's income was below the deregulation threshold. Landlord appealed, claiming that the DHCR's decision was unreasonable. The court ruled that landlord's appeal was premature. The DHCR later ruled for tenant because her income wasn't more than $175,000 in either 2001 or 2002. Landlord again appealed and lost. The DHCR acted reasonably and within its authority in finding that tenant showed good cause for her default. Tenant provided a number of personal and medical reasons for mistakenly mailing her answer to landlord instead of to the DHCR.

Fernbach LLC v. DHCR and Gershon: Index No. 102330/07 (10/16/07) [2-pg. doc.]