| Monday, May 06, 2002 - 11:00 am I have been fighting my right to succession of my mother's rent controlled apartment since 2000. The landlord of our building is United Hay LLC usually represented by Mark Harounian, son of the owner of many buildings in NYC. The landlord's lawyer is Larry Furtzaig of the law firm Rosenberg and Estis. Rosenberg and Estis have very stong connections in the NYC Housing Court. There is one just there Timmy Elsner ( female judge) that only a few years ago was with Rosenberg and Estis before becoming a NYC Housing Judge. They based their case on saying I did not have rights to my mother's rent controlled apt. even though I had lived with my mother well over the required 2 year period for succession rights. They were able to get a non-jury trial in the Housing Court. The judge for the trial was Larry Schachner who is most definately a LANDLORD biased judge. It was amazing how Rosenberg and Estis was able to get this particular judge Larry Schachner since it is supposed to be a random selection. Judge Schachner was extremely unfair, not allowing lots of my information in, claiming my witnesses weren't credible even though I had 9 very credible witnesses inclduing the former landlord of the building who lived right next door to my until he sold this building the Harounians (United Hay LLC). I did not win my case in the lower court. I would be happy to fax the decision to anyone who is really interested. I was able to take my case to the Appellate Court which has taken me to April 2002. Unfortunately the Appellate Court did not overturn Judge Schachner's decision. They go very much by law and paperwork and since Judge Schachner did not allow my paperwork and diminished my witnesses it makes it very hard even in the appeal court. But I am currently today, May 6 trying to take my case to the higher court. I know I am entitled to succession rights of my mother's apartment but these landlords will do everything possible to get rent controlled tenants out. The Housing Courts here in NYC are very sympathetic to landlords. I did have a lawyer for my trial but it cost me all my savings and it still didn't seem to matter. Judge Schachner had his mind obviously made up when we walked in to the Court room. I handled my own case in the Appeals Court. My transcripts were paid for by the COurt because I was eligible for the Poor Person's Order since I had no noney after the Trial. I did have legal advice from Robert Grimble who comes to EIS (Eviction Intervention Services) on Tuesday and Thursday nights free of charge. Mr. Grimble was very helpful and I honor his work. EIS is a community service on the East Side. I also got information from MYF Legal Service which takes cases of low income people. They are swamped with cases and not big on appeal cases though but can be very informative. If anyone has any questions or information to help I welcome it. I would hate to see anyone else go through what I have in the Court System and if I can help anyone with information about my succession case, I am more than happy to do so. I may be contacted at KAKLEPPER@aol com. Thank you and have a good day.
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| Monday, May 20, 2002 - 02:11 am Hi, Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, but we are very busy and in need of volunteers. Pro se cases in the Appellate Division are very rare and difficult, but one tenant, Vicki Richmond, was able to get to oral argument. You can read her story at http://vicric.com One of the problems for pro se's to grasp is that appellate courts are only supposed to deal with the facts as found by the lower court. But if the lower court excluded evidence under a faulty legal theory the appellate courts can overturn on that basis. The problem is that Manhattan has a very anti-tenant appellate term. Another problem is that the Appellate Division, the Court above the Appellate Term, in Manhattan is very anti-tenant. So much so that they appear to suspend basic principles of constitutional law, etc. to help the Slumlords at any cost. If you would be willing to talk about your case on the air, we might consider airing your story. Ronin
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