Elderly, Disabled Brooklyn Tenants Seek Order Halting Removal of Elevator Service

Residents of 49 Bokee Court could be trapped in their apartments for months

January 5, 2015, New York, NY— Public Advocate Letitia James and three individuals represented by Legal Services NYC’s Brooklyn Program today filed a federal lawsuit alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Housing Act, and New York State and City anti-discrimination laws in connection with a planned elevator outage that would effectively trap elderly, disabled, and low-income building residents in their homes for four months starting next week.

The residents, who live on the fifth and sixth floors of the building, received notice on December 2nd that the 60-unit building’s only elevator would be shut down for a 16-week period beginning the second week in January. The notice suggested that residents who were unable to walk the stairs “make arrangements to perhaps stay with family or friends,” but did not offer any accommodations to the disabled as required by law.

The individual plaintiffs are Yevgenya Feldman, 90, who suffers from heart problems, hypertension, depression, and back and foot pain; Konstantin Berezovsky, 83, who suffers from heart problems, arthritis, hypertension, and diabetes; and Lyubov Vaksman, 65, who suffers from diabetes, hypertension, and arthritis.  The three are residents of 49 Bokee Court and are unable or limited in their ability to use stairs because of their disabilities.

The plaintiffs are seeking reasonable accommodations, and for the defendants to postpone removal of the elevator until such accommodations can be agreed upon. Without such accommodations, the tenant plaintiffs would effectively be forced to remain inside their apartments for four months. They would be unable to attend frequent and necessary medical appointments, and Ms. Feldman and Mr. Berezovsky would be unable to attend senior day care programs at which they receive two meals daily and the opportunity to socialize. In the event of an emergency, none of the three would be able to leave the premises.

Each of the tenants has requested accommodation of an apartment on the first floor of their own building, or on any floor of a nearby building with a working elevator for the time that their own elevator is out of service. Under the Fair Housing Act, such a request is reasonable and is not an undue burden on the landlord. However, the landlord has not responded to the elderly and disabled tenants’ requests, nor to a subsequent request sent by New York City Councilmember Mark Treyger on the tenants’ behalf.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York. Plaintiffs are seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent the defendants from taking the elevator out of service.

“Landlords must, by law, provide disabled tenants with accommodations that are suited to their needs,” said Public Advocate Letitia James. “Unfortunately, some New York City landlords don’t understand the Fair Housing Act, which mandates those accommodations. Cases involving elevator outages are far too common in our city and we cannot allow disabled tenants to be mistreated.”

“The proposed elevator removal at 49 Bokee Court poses a very real and imminent danger to our low-income, elderly, disabled clients who are in no position to locate, pay for, and move to other apartments by themselves,” said Pavita Krishnaswamy, Deputy Director of Litigation at Legal Services NYC’s Brooklyn Program. “Without a reasonable accommodation by their landlord, they will be trapped in their fifth and sixth floor apartments with no access to regular medical care and unable to leave even in the event of an emergency. This lawsuit aims to protect them from that harm by vindicating their rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act and State and City Human Rights Laws. Through this case we also hope to induce the Department of Buildings to comply with its obligation to protect tenants with mobility impairments in these situations.”

PA James and Legal Services NYC’s Bronx office filed a similar lawsuit in September on behalf of disabled residents of four Bronx buildings owned by Goldfarb Properties. Since that case was filed, additional tenants, as well as the Center for Independence for the Disabled of NY, have applied to join the lawsuit, and seek damages against the landlord as well as regulatory changes from the Department of Buildings.

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Contact: Kate Whalen, 646-442-3654, kwhalen (at) legalservicesnyc.org