It’s been one year since a devastating fire ripped through four Grand Street apartment buildings, killing an elderly man and displacing dozens of tenants. Today the New York Times has an update on the contentious legal battle surrounding one of those buildings, 289 Grand.
Asking why the building remains empty prompts finger-pointing from tenants and the landlord’s lawyer, Adam Leitman Bailey. Each side accuses the other of trying to delay a Housing Court trial on a lawsuit filed by the tenants to force repairs. Mr. Bailey moved for a jury proceeding. John Gorman (the tenants’ attorney) opposed that, and this week, Judge Timmie Erin Elsner sided with the tenants. “It would be oppressive to charge a jury with enforcement of highly technical and complex housing safety standards and force them to devise a solution when various remedies exist,” she wrote.
You can read the full article here… and see our past coverage of the 289 Grand saga here.
