In the latest formal complaint filed against the mayor’s favorite state marshal, a state representative claims that Peter Criscuolo invented two tenants in order to jack up fees in a city foreclosure suit.
State Rep. Bob Megna recently filed the complaint before the State Marshal Commission. He claims State Marshal Criscuolo (pictured) overcharged him when the city enacted a foreclosure suit on an investment property he owns.
Megna’s firsthand experience as the target of a city foreclosure suit has spurred him to inquire into how law firms and marshals handle these lucrative cases on behalf of the city, and to consider proposing state legislation to limit padded fees. Click here for a prior article detailing what happened when he missed a tax bill on a three-story house.
Criscuolo’s nearly $500 in fees included a charge for serving the lawsuit to two supposed “tenants” who didn’t actually live at the house, Megna claimed.
“We’ve got marshals and lawyers slamming people on fees,” Megna said Monday. “It’s got to come to an end.”
The complaint is at least the seventh filed with the Commission against Criscuolo over the course of his career doing city business as an independent contractor. The first six complaints were dismissed or withdrawn.
Meanwhile, Alderman Jorge Perez has proposed local legislation to reform how work on city foreclosures is handed out to politically connected marshals like Criscuolo, a fund-raiser for Mayor John DeStefano.
Criscuolo said Monday that he did nothing wrong in Megna’s case.
“Unfortunately, there was an error on his part,” said Criscuolo. He said he’d be issuing a written response this week to Megna’s complaint. “I’m sure that Mr. Megna will understand when he sees.”
Megna admits fault for failing to pay a tax bill on an investment property he bought at 535 Quinnipiac Ave. Megna said the tax bills were sent to a vacant property. He never got them and missed his Jan. 1 bill. On May 19, he was served with a foreclosure complaint and paid his bill promptly.
Asking what the damage was, he found his $1,753 tax bill had been nearly doubled, heaped on with an extra $1,181 in fees. (“Everyone’s got to eat,” Criscuolo reportedly told him, according to Megna’s account.) Megna started looking into where all the fees came from.
“It makes me wonder,” he said, “of all the tremendous amount of fees they earn in the marshal process, how much of it is really unnecessary?”
Invented Tenants?
The city hired the law firm of Dolan & Luzzi to carry out the foreclosure suit. Dolan & Luzzi in turn hired their marshal of choice, Criscuolo, to take on Megna’s case. Last year, Criscuolo was the only marshal to do city business with Dolan & Luzzi; he earned $51,358 from the firm, according to state records.
Tasked with serving the complaint to interested parties, Criscuolo did a tenant search, for a fee of $50. He came up with two names: Debbie Burgess and Jovannie Ortiz. He billed Megna for serving them the complaint.
The problem is, according to Megna, the house was vacant at the time and no one by that name had lived in the house since he bought it in August of 2007.
“I don’t know these people,” Megna (pictured) said Monday. “Never heard of them.” The three-story home had two male tenants when he bought it, he said. Megna started eviction proceedings and both tenants left.
Criscuolo “either fabricated these tenants so as to enrich himself and increase his fee, or he was extremely unreasonable” in determining whether the tenants really lived there, Megna charged. Criscuolo could have knocked on the door and found the home empty, or checked the utility bills and found out no one was living there, Megna said.
Reached Monday, Criscuolo (pictured below) defended his actions. He said he personally went to the house after being assigned the case.
“At the time of service, the names of the tenants were on the mail and mailbox,” Criscuolo said. He said with documentation from the postal service that people were receiving mail at that address, it made sense to conclude that there were tenants there.
“There was no intent to do anything wrong on Mr. Megna’s or my part,” Criscuolo said.
According to the tax collector’s office, Criscuolo earned a total of $468 on the foreclosure. That’s $50 for a tenant search, $375 for service of the complaint and lis pendens, and $43 for release of lis pendens. Neither the city nor the law firm would provide a further breakdown of fees, but Criscuolo said he charged only what is allowed by state statute.
According to state law, marshals can charge $30 for serving a complaint, plus $10 for each additional plaintiff at the same address. In a letter to the mayor’s office, Megna questioned why the city leapt into costly foreclosure instead of just hiring a marshal to serve the tax warrant. Choosing the second method would’ve cost Megna only 15 percent of the taxes owed, or $263. The marshal could have found him easily and he would have paid promptly, he said.
C.J. Cuticello, the city tax collector, replied Monday that his office did make an effort to collect the taxes before resorting to foreclosure. Since Megna’s attorney didn’t list his business address when closing on the home, the city sent all the letters to 535 Quinnipiac instead of to Megna himself. His office sent letters to the home on four different occasions and used the media to get the word out when taxes are due.
At the end of the day, Cuticello did not appear to empathize with excuses from a tax scofflaw.
“There’s an area of public responsibility that everyone has to understand,” Cuticello said. “We as taxpayers have to take on some responsibility … to realize that the taxes are due.”
When Megna’s case comes before the State Marshal Commission, a disciplinary hearing will be held to determine if any punishment is due. Megna said depending on the outcome, he’d consider drafting legislation to ensure that marshals suffer consequences if they don’t uphold the law.
Previous Independent coverage of New Haven’s foreclosure crisis:
• 3 Minutes Too Late
• Historic Gambardella Property Foreclosed
•2 Homes Lost, 1 Gained
‚Ä¢ “Everybody’s Got To Eat”
• More Foreclosures, More Signs
‚Ä¢ Foreclosure Sale Benefits Archie Moore’s
• Rescue Squad Swings Into Action
• A Bidder Shows Up
‚Ä¢ Bank Beats Tanya’s Bid
• Westville Auction Draws A Crowd
• DeStefano: Foreclosure Plan Ready
• Can They Help?
‚Ä¢ “We Should Over-Regulate These Bastards”
• Rosa Hears of Rescues
• WPCA Grilled on Foreclosures
‚Ä¢ WPCA’s Targets Struggle To Dig Out
• Sue The Subprimers?
• WPCA Hearing Delayed
‚Ä¢ Megna’s “Blood Boils” at WPCA Tactics
• Goldfield Wants WPCA Answers
• 2 Days, 8 Foreclosure Suits
• WPCA Goes On Foreclosure Binge
• A Guru Weighs In
• WPCA Targets Church
• Subprime Mess Targeted
‚Ä¢ Renters Caught In Foreclosure King’s Fall
‚Ä¢ She’s One Of 1,150 In The Foreclosure Mill
‚Ä¢ Foreclosures Threaten Perrotti’s Empire
‚Ä¢“I’m Not Going To Lay Down And Let Them Take My House”
‚Ä¢ Struggling Couple Sues Over “Scam”
The following links are to various materials and brochures designed to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.
How to prepare a complaint to the Department of Banking; Department of Banking Online Assistance Form; Connecticut Department of Banking, Avoiding Foreclosure; FDIC Consumer News; Statewide Legal Services of Connecticut, Inc; Connecticut Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service.
For lawyer referral services in New Haven, call 562-5750 or visit this website. For the Department of Social Services (DSS) Eviction Foreclosure Prevention Program (EFPP), call 211 to see which community-based organization in the state serves your town.
Click here for information on foreclosure prevention efforts from Empower New Haven.