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LEE v. HERRON (2023)

Supreme Court, Appellate Term, New York,

Eva LEE, Respondent, v. Shanell HERRON, Appellant.

2022-592 N C

Decided: November 30, 2023

PRESENT: ELIZABETH H. EMERSON, J.P., TIMOTHY S. DRISCOLL, GRETCHEN WALSH, JJ.

Nassau/Suffolk Law Services Committee, Inc. (Judy Slater Hirshon of counsel), for appellant. Charles E. Holster, III, for respondent.

ORDERED that the final judgment is reversed, without costs, and the petition is dismissed.

In this holdover proceeding, tenant interposed an affirmative defense of retaliatory eviction. It is undisputed that landlord commenced this eviction proceeding within one year of receiving good faith complaints from the Long Beach Housing Authority on behalf of tenant regarding conditions at the premises in need of repair. Pursuant to Real Property Law § 223-b (5), this created a “rebuttable presumption” of retaliation, and it was landlord's burden to prove a “credible explanation of a non-retaliatory motive for [her] acts” (Real Property Law § 223-b [5]). At trial, landlord presented no evidence to rebut the presumption.

Accordingly, the final judgment is reversed and the petition is dismissed.

EMERSON, J.P., DRISCOLL and WALSH, JJ., concur.

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LEE v. HERRON (2023)

Docket No: 2022-592 N C

Decided: November 30, 2023

Court: Supreme Court, Appellate Term, New York,

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