Landlord-Tenant—NYC Housing Authority (NYCHA) Ordered to Pay More Than $19,000 In Civil Contempt Penalties—NYCHA Failed to Restore Hot Water to Apartment for More Than Two Years and had Acted “Contumaciously” and Without Regard for the Tenant’s Health—NYCHA Ignored Repeated Court Orders—Prior Settlement Stipulation was Unenforceable Since it was Indefinite, Illusory and Precautionary—Court Infuriated That Building Manager Gave “Flippant and Disingenuous Testimony
The petitioner, a tenant in a building owned and operated by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), had commenced a Housing Part (HP) proceeding in December 2010, requesting that NYCHA restore hot water to her apartment. In January 2012, the tenant commenced another HP action, again claiming that she did not have hot water. The petitioner had submitted two motions for civil and criminal contempt against NYCHA, claiming that NYCHA had “acted in defiance of multiple court orders and so-ordered stipulations by not restoring hot water.”
