Thomas Breen photo
Galina Zalman, in front of her 33 Hazel St. home in 2020.
New Haven’s new housing judge heard three versions of what went wrong at a Hazel Street rooming house.
In the process, she also got a firsthand look at some of the challenges facing people living one false step away from homelessness.
Merlietha Geathers, Gerald Haag, and Galina Zalman took turns making their cases during a trial held Thursday in the city’s housing court on the third floor of the state courthouse at 121 Elm St.
Geathers was there as a plaintiff in a damages lawsuit filed in February against Zalman, a Russian immigrant and local landlord who lives at and owns the two-family house at 33 Hazel St. where Geathers has rented a second-floor room for the past two years.
Before newly appointed state Superior Court Judge (and fellow New Havener) Alayna Stone, Geathers recounted allegations made in her handwritten legal complaint. She accused Zalman of being a “slum landlord” who did little to protect her over the past year and a half from the frequent break-ins and harassment of a neighbor, Haag.
Geathers argued that Zalman should have to pay her thousands of dollars to compensate for broken and stolen property and for the emotional anguish resulting from living in such allegedly hazardous conditions.
She also accused Haag of stealing everything from her iPhone to her mother’s death certificate to army boots to toothpaste; of tampering with her food; of smoking crack in the building.
Geathers didn’t present any evidence that Haag had done any of these things, and Haag and Zalman both adamantly denied that any of her claims were true. Geathers also accused Haag of breaking the video surveillance cameras she had set up in her home to try to catch him in the wrong.
“I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep,” she said about the stress of living next to Haag — and of not being taken seriously when she brought her concerns to Zalman. “She did nothing,” she said about her landlord, whom she accused of being prejudiced against her. Geathers is Black; Zalman and Haag are white.
33 Hazel St.
Even as she lobbed evidence-free criticism after criticism against Zalman, Geathers made clear to the judge how much appreciation she had for her landlord for giving her a place to live when she had nowhere else to go.
Geathers said that she was homeless before she moved into 33 Hazel. She said the entirety of her monthly rent is now covered by a subsidy from a homelessness services nonprofit.
“When I was homeless, she gave me an opportunity to start my life over,” Geathers said about Zalman. Geathers said she cooked for her and painted the house in part to express her gratitude for opening her home to her. But now, Geathers said, almost in tears, “she’s always disrespecting me.”
On top of all of this, Geathers said, she’s recently gone through a welter of hard times: Her son has gone to jail. Her mom died. She had a heart attack, and has been in and out of the hospital.
Zalman’s attorney, David Pite, made clear to the judge through his cross-examination of Geathers that she had no evidence on hand to back up any of her claims: no videos or photos showing that Haag had broken into her apartment, no paperwork from the Livable City Initiative (LCI) or health department documenting that 33 Hazel was as poorly maintained as Geathers claimed, no proof from the police or anyone else that Zalman or Haag had treated her in an unfair or threatening manner.
Called by Pite as a witness for the defense, Haag said that he moved out of a second-floor room at 33 Hazel St. in February not because of a restraining order, as Geathers claimed, but because Geathers’s family members kept coming to the house to intimidate him.
Haag — who walked with a cane and had several teeth prominently missing — said he’s now sleeping at a shelter.
Asked by the court clerk to state his name and address for the record, he said, “I don’t have an address.”
Haag told the court that he had never broken into Geathers’ apartment. He disavowed everything she accused him of.
But how many times have police come to your door when you were living at 33 Hazel? Geathers asked.
Three or four times, Haag said, but he never got in trouble. He was never arrested or served with any citations. Instead, he recalled, police told him about Geathers, “She’s nuts.”
“You call me nuts?!” Geathers replied with hurt and disbelief.
“He’s calling me names,” she said to the judge. “He’s a liar.” Haag protested that he was merely repeating what police had told him.
During his brief examination of his client, Pite asked Zalman about the claims made by Geathers over the course of Thursday’s trial. She too denied everything Geathers had accused her of.
Did you ever go into Geathers’s room and tamper with her belongings? he asked.
No, Zalman said in Russian, her words translated into English by a court interpreter.
“Did LCI or any government entity give you a violation for the premises [at 33 Hazel] not being in good condition?”
No.
“Have you treated Ms. Geathers unfairly to the best of your knowledge?”
No, Zalman replied. “Every time I see her, I say, ‘Good morning, good day.’ ”
“Ms. Galina,” Geathers jumped in, “didn’t I complain to you every time there was a break-in?”
Zalman said that, every time Geathers made such a complaint to her, “I make investigation” and treated her claims seriously.
And didn’t LCI tell you you had to “fix roofing, rat infestations, leaking?” Geathers asked.
“Every time I saw something wasn’t right, I would make changes” to make the property better, Zalman replied.
And how many times did you threaten to evict me? Geathers asked her landlord.
“Never,” Zalman said.
“You’re lying,” Geathers replied, her head in her hands. “This is why it’s pointless. She’s prejudiced.”
Letters filed to the state court’s website by Zalman also show her and a neighbor and a friend pushing back on claims that she treated Geathers poorly out of any kind of racial animus. “Almost all my tenants are Black. I have many Black friends,” Zalman wrote.
A neighbor, Ron, wrote that he’s known Zalman since 2009, and that she is “one of the most hardworking, dedicated and innovative person I’ve had the pleasure of being a neighbor amongst. She has been involved in the community in helpful ways to me and my family and others.”
Another friend, Anthony, wrote, “I have known Mrs. Galina Zalman for several years, I have found her to be respectful and fair woman. Most of her tenants are minorities and she does the best to do repairs and meet their needs. I have done work for her as well and she pays as she goes.”
In a separate letter filed with the court on April 25, Zalman apologized for “wasting” the judge’s time — and said that she has changed her mind about filing a counterclaim against Geathers.
“I am currently in a difficult financial situation, my 3 tenants are not paying me and I will not be able to pay for the claim and the lawyer,” she wrote.
In her closing argument to the judge on Thursday, Geathers urged Stone to award her damages — for the goods that Haag allegedly stole, for the emotional stress she has incurred while living at 33 Hazel.
Pite, in his closing remarks, called on the judge to side with the defendant and not award any damages. He described Geathers’s original hand-written legal complaint as “free form, stream of consciousness allegations” with “no proof.”
He described his client as “an elderly woman” who has “never had an issue” with tenants, besides evicting some for nonpayment of rent. “Ms. Zalman did not do anything to her,” he said about Geathers.
And with that, Judge Stone ended the trial, and promised to issue a “timely decision” on the matter. As of the publication time of this article, Stone had not yet issued a decision in this case.