BROOKLYN, N.Y. (Legal Newsline) - Landlords hoping to block a New York statute preventing them from evicting tenants who aren’t paying rent were rebuffed by a federal court that agreed New York Attorney General Letitia James couldn’t be sued over the law.
The AG argued she doesn’t have a direct role in enforcing the COVID-19 Emergency Eviction and Foreclosure Prevention Act, or CEEFPA, which protects tenants against eviction if they submit forms declaring various hardships associated with the pandemic, including loss of income or a concern they will be exposed to the disease if forced to leave their home.
A group of landlords sued AG James in federal court, arguing CEEFPA is unconstitutional for multiple reasons, including because it denies them due process for challenging hardship petitions by their tenants. The landlords also argued AG James effectively enforced the law by issuing a memorandum to New York sheriffs explaining the requirements under the law and declaring “law enforcement officials are prohibited from evicting the tenants and occupants” if a hardship form is filed.
New York’s AG responded that state sovereignty prevented the private landlords from suing her in federal court. The law doesn’t grant the AG authority to enforce it, she argued.
In an April 14 decision dismissing the case, U.S District Judge Joanna Seybert agreed.
In their lawsuit, the landlords presented detailed claims of their own hardship under CEEFPA. Pantelis Chrysafis, for example, said he wants to sell his property and he obtained a judgment against his tenants in February 2020 but they haven’t paid rent in over a year and remain in the home. Betty Cohen said she owns a single co-op in Brooklyn that is her sole source of income other than Social Security and her tenant stopped paying rent in March 2020.
The 11th Amendment generally prevents private citizens from suing the states in federal court unless the state agrees to waive its sovereignty, however. The U.S. Supreme Court carved out an exception in its 2008 decision, Ex parte Young, for lawsuits against a government official for attempting to enforce an unconstitutional law.
Judge Seybert refused to apply Ex parte Young in this case, however, agreeing with AG James that the Attorney General’s office doesn’t actually enforce the law. CEEFPA is administered by New York state courts, the federal court ruled, and local law enforcement carries out their orders.
“Indeed, the fact that the Attorney General provided general information to the local law enforcement officers who are directly responsible for complying with the restrictions on the execution of eviction warrants in Part A of CEEFPA underscores that it is other state and local officials, rather than the Attorney General, who have the particular duty to administer or enforce the provisions of CEEFPA Part A,” the judge concluded.