Tenants Never Received Security Deposit Refund

Former tenants sued landlord for refund of their $18,600 security deposit. They lived in the apartment between 2014 and July 15, 2020, and claimed they left the unit in broom-clean condition. Landlord waited until October 2020 to deliver an itemized statement about the security deposit and claimed that it wanted to withhold $12,375. Landlord claimed that tenants vacated without notice and that when landlord discovered on August 13 that tenants had vacated, she discovered significant apartment damage. Landlord claimed that she couldn't get an estimate for the damage until late September 2020 due to the COVID pandemic. But landlord also said that she had decided not to fight tenants and had refunded the security deposit by wire transfer. She asked the court to dismiss the case. Tenants claimed that this was untrue and accused landlord of fraud. The court saw no reason to find any fraud at this point. But since something went wrong with the wire transfer, the case couldn't be dismissed at this point. The parties could proceed to pre-trial questioning and document production. 

Eisner v. Zaim: Index No. 656238/2020, 2021 NY Slip Op 30221(U)(Sup. Ct. NY; 1/22/21; Bluth, J)