LAgirlneedshelp
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York City
Hi everyone, I'm posting this for my mom in New York City. She has a medium sized dog (a Pointer, weighs about 60 lbs) living in her apartment since 2004. In 2005, the co-op board sued her because pets aren't allowed in the apartment. My mom won the lawsuit because she already had a cat for about 10 years before the dog. This dog is old (12 years old), is going blind in one eye, has arthritis so he doesn't hop around too much, and is going partially deaf. Obviously she can't give the dog away. In 2008, a guy moved in downstairs from her. He immediately filed a complaint against the dog with the co-op board. The board sent her a notice of termination. She followed all the rules, installed carpets with padding but did not remove the dog because the prior lawsuit stated she could have it.
The co-op board stopped taking her payments for the apartment. This has been going on for a year. They took her to court in December and dropped the case. She went to mediation with the downstairs neighbor to try to work something out. The guy ranted and raved and said the only solution was to get rid of the dog because it makes too much noise. He suggested putting the dog down. The woman mediating the meeting was visibly disturbed and said there was nothing she could do. My mom went around to all her other neighbors, who signed a petition saying the dog doesn't make any noise. She presented this to the co-op board. They never responded. They also rarely call her lawyer back, forcing him to keep contacting them over and over again and thereby causing my mom to pay for more billable hours.
Now they've sent her another court notice and my mother has been reduced to tears. It looks like their plan is to keep suing, dropping the case and doing that over and over again. The first time they sued for excessive noise, now they're suing for lack of payment (even though she keeps all of her check stubs and has kept her payments in the bank in a lump sum since they don't take them). She doesn't know what to do to make all this stop and why this neighbor has become such a nightmare. Please, can anyone offer any advice?
Hi everyone, I'm posting this for my mom in New York City. She has a medium sized dog (a Pointer, weighs about 60 lbs) living in her apartment since 2004. In 2005, the co-op board sued her because pets aren't allowed in the apartment. My mom won the lawsuit because she already had a cat for about 10 years before the dog. This dog is old (12 years old), is going blind in one eye, has arthritis so he doesn't hop around too much, and is going partially deaf. Obviously she can't give the dog away. In 2008, a guy moved in downstairs from her. He immediately filed a complaint against the dog with the co-op board. The board sent her a notice of termination. She followed all the rules, installed carpets with padding but did not remove the dog because the prior lawsuit stated she could have it.
The co-op board stopped taking her payments for the apartment. This has been going on for a year. They took her to court in December and dropped the case. She went to mediation with the downstairs neighbor to try to work something out. The guy ranted and raved and said the only solution was to get rid of the dog because it makes too much noise. He suggested putting the dog down. The woman mediating the meeting was visibly disturbed and said there was nothing she could do. My mom went around to all her other neighbors, who signed a petition saying the dog doesn't make any noise. She presented this to the co-op board. They never responded. They also rarely call her lawyer back, forcing him to keep contacting them over and over again and thereby causing my mom to pay for more billable hours.
Now they've sent her another court notice and my mother has been reduced to tears. It looks like their plan is to keep suing, dropping the case and doing that over and over again. The first time they sued for excessive noise, now they're suing for lack of payment (even though she keeps all of her check stubs and has kept her payments in the bank in a lump sum since they don't take them). She doesn't know what to do to make all this stop and why this neighbor has become such a nightmare. Please, can anyone offer any advice?