Brooklyn Borough Small Claims Court, NYC
I am at a loss how to continue...
1. I had won the full judgment amount of a small claims action on April 11, 2013 by inquest as landlord did not show up (for a Sept 1, 2011 move out - took long b/c we went through a settlement that got reneged, attorney general mediation, and now small claims)
2. I had not contacted the landlord until 30 days after judgment to collect.
3. They kept dodging calls or advised to call back later.
4. I had my girlfriend (a co-tenant) called in today and asked for status on security deposit.
5. The secretary advised they filed a motion to show cause.
6. Girlfriend called back to get more information when she reversed herself and said everything was okay.
7. Suspicious, I called the court (referencing the old docket number from April) and they indeed verified we have a court date set for this Thursday.
8. My girlfriend called back to get them on tape saying above and they are no longer picking up/hanging up.
9. We called the courts back to find that there had been 2 previous motions filed (both parties didn’t show up)
10. Now the kicker is that I had begun receiving strange blank letters in the mail after shortly after my small claims win. (x3) in total (which match the amount of motions they filed to date, including the 1 I found out about today.) All letters came in a hand written envelope with no return address. The content of the envelope was always a blank piece of paper
11. Showed up to court today, to request that the judge dismiss this motion to show cause, but it got granted.
My concern:
Should I appeal this granted motion to vacate the past judgment (can someone representing themselves do that?) This is a landlord that has unilaterally decided to withhold $2500 (half of security deposit) from all their tenants in the building. They are Hasidic landlords that have a lot of legal backup that I cannot possibly compete with. Doesn't the defendant need to provide good reason why the previous judgment (by inquest) should be vacated? Simply because they did not show up, am I in a position to have to play this game all over again? Judge set the new court date for 12/12 which now takes this case past 3 years since I've moved out.
On another note - they are only withholding 50% of a $5k security deposit - but they won't return the other half in dispute now that we are in a legal battle. Are there any methods to urging them to give the undisputed half back?
I apologize for the long winded, ranting. This is keeping me up. The landlord's rep smugly told me when we got off the elevator, "you'll never beat us, you will have to fight for every penny." It seems so wrong that they can illegally withhold.
I am at a loss how to continue...
1. I had won the full judgment amount of a small claims action on April 11, 2013 by inquest as landlord did not show up (for a Sept 1, 2011 move out - took long b/c we went through a settlement that got reneged, attorney general mediation, and now small claims)
2. I had not contacted the landlord until 30 days after judgment to collect.
3. They kept dodging calls or advised to call back later.
4. I had my girlfriend (a co-tenant) called in today and asked for status on security deposit.
5. The secretary advised they filed a motion to show cause.
6. Girlfriend called back to get more information when she reversed herself and said everything was okay.
7. Suspicious, I called the court (referencing the old docket number from April) and they indeed verified we have a court date set for this Thursday.
8. My girlfriend called back to get them on tape saying above and they are no longer picking up/hanging up.
9. We called the courts back to find that there had been 2 previous motions filed (both parties didn’t show up)
10. Now the kicker is that I had begun receiving strange blank letters in the mail after shortly after my small claims win. (x3) in total (which match the amount of motions they filed to date, including the 1 I found out about today.) All letters came in a hand written envelope with no return address. The content of the envelope was always a blank piece of paper
11. Showed up to court today, to request that the judge dismiss this motion to show cause, but it got granted.
My concern:
Should I appeal this granted motion to vacate the past judgment (can someone representing themselves do that?) This is a landlord that has unilaterally decided to withhold $2500 (half of security deposit) from all their tenants in the building. They are Hasidic landlords that have a lot of legal backup that I cannot possibly compete with. Doesn't the defendant need to provide good reason why the previous judgment (by inquest) should be vacated? Simply because they did not show up, am I in a position to have to play this game all over again? Judge set the new court date for 12/12 which now takes this case past 3 years since I've moved out.
On another note - they are only withholding 50% of a $5k security deposit - but they won't return the other half in dispute now that we are in a legal battle. Are there any methods to urging them to give the undisputed half back?
I apologize for the long winded, ranting. This is keeping me up. The landlord's rep smugly told me when we got off the elevator, "you'll never beat us, you will have to fight for every penny." It seems so wrong that they can illegally withhold.