Firm Helps Client Evade Eviction and Land on Her Feet

Hughes Hubbard achieved a favorable outcome for a pro bono client facing eviction proceedings brought by a hostile landlord after the sudden death of her mother.

The client and her teenage daughter had lived with her mother in a rent-stabilized apartment in midtown Manhattan for several years when her ailing mother died last July. The landlord claimed that the client was not on the lease, did not meet succession rights requirements and had not paid rent in more than six months.

Essex Street Academy (ESA) referred the case to Hughes Hubbard. ESA and Hughes Hubbard are partnered through New York City pro bono service group Volunteers of Legal Services' school-based Children's Project, which seeks to help low-income families resolve legal problems that threaten to derail their children's educational progress.

In February 2014, Hughes Hubbard met with the landlord's counsel at a hearing in Housing Court. Hughes Hubbard rejected an initial settlement offer and negotiated zealously to achieve an outcome beneficial to the client and her daughter.

Faced with the prospect of more litigation, the landlord agreed to Hughes Hubbard's demands to release the client from all claims, to allow her to remain in her home for a period of time that would allow her to find a new apartment and to give her a substantial financial award to vacate the premises. The client, who now lives in a Brooklyn apartment, was very pleased with the results.

Windy McCracken, Chris Perre and Kelli Lane represented the client, with supervision from Vilia Hayes.