MANHATTAN (CN) — After a tour through the Second Circuit and Supreme Court, the fight against New York’s Covid-related eviction moratorium will forge ahead in U.S. District Court, a judge ruled Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Gary R. Brown has already twice declined to block the temporary ban on evictions — most recently for a lack of standing. His latest order, issued without an opinion, denies the state’s request to dismiss the suit.
Attorney Randy Mastro argued against dismissal, noting that the court had “expressly declined” to consolidate the preliminary injunction motion with the merits of the case.
“To the extent the state wishes to move to dismiss this case based on the adequacy of plaintiffs’ pleadings — whether as to standing or any other issue — it should do so in the ordinary course,” wrote Mastro, of the firm Gibson Dunn.
“But the state is not entitled to dismissal simply because the court found that plaintiffs did not make a sufficient showing of standing to obtain a preliminary injunction.”
Mastro’s response rebuffed the state’s attempt last week to give the case the boot.
“It may be that at some point," wrote Assistant Attorney General Susan Connolly, "they or others might have standing to pursue a claim based on the moratorium but that hypothetical circumstance cannot be the basis for a continuation of litigation here.”
Following a Supreme Court ruling that temporarily ended the ban, New York state legislators tweaked a provision that let tenants self-certify their financial hardships.
Though the Second Circuit found that the change mooted the landlords’ initial due-process issues, it allowed them to file an amended complaint in the Eastern District of New York, which argued the update was “illusory.”
Thursday’s ruling keeps the case alive, handing a win to the landlords, one of whom said she was rendered homeless because she couldn’t kick out her property-destroying tenants.
Judge Brown said he agreed the procedures around the eviction ban are not ideal, but none of the plaintiffs had in fact challenged the financial hardship declarations their tenants submitted to avoid paying rent.
New York’s eviction moratorium extends through January 15, 2022. It has been extended several times to avoid displacing people during the deadly pandemic, and to limit the spread of Covid-19 associated with living in congregate settings like shelters.
"The pandemic has created unimaginable anxiety for families and business owners who have lost income and are struggling to pay the rent every month," Governor Kathy Hochul said.
She criticized the Supreme Court as “heartless” in its decisions to strike down the New York ban temporarily, and the federal ban permanently.
“These steps will alleviate the crisis facing vulnerable New Yorkers who are suffering through no fault of their own,” Hochul said in a September statement extending the moratorium.
Mastro declined to comment on the decision, as did a spokesperson for the state court system.
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