Tenant's Son Can't Sue Landlord in Bronx County

Tenant's adult son sued landlord for negligence. While at tenant's apartment, the son had passed out from a heroin overdose. Then his neck came into contact with an uninsulated hot water pipe. He suffered severe burns on his neck. The son filed the lawsuit in Supreme Court, Bronx County. Landlord asked the court to move the case to Nassau County, where landlord had its office. Landlord claimed that tenant's son didn't live in the Bronx, so he had no legitimate grounds to have the case decided there. The court ruled for landlord. Tenant's son appealed. Although one judge disagreed, the court ruled against tenant. Tenant had been released from prison shortly before the incident and claimed that he was living with tenant at the time of his injury. A few months later, tenant again went to jail upstate. Tenant lived in regulated HUD Section 8 housing, and all the statements she had submitted to landlord stated that she lived alone in the apartment. The fact that tenant's son was injured while visiting his mother's apartment and his presence in the Bronx for medical treatment during the following month didn't prove that tenant's apartment was his residence.

Garced v. Clinton Arms Associates: NYLJ, 1/22/09, p. 34, col. 3 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; Tom, JP, Nardelli, Sweeny, DeGrasse, JJ, McGuire, J dissenting)