Tenants Union Takes Ocean To Court

Nora Grace-Flood photo

Attorney Eppler-Epstein, with tenant Giovanniello: “Joining a tenants union and negotiating in good faith with your landlord ... are protected activities.”

A tenants union is challenging a series of megalandlord-spurred eviction filings in court, claiming that 16 move-out notices came as retaliation against residents’ organizing efforts.

Ocean Management, one of the city’s largest property management-landlord-real estate investment outfits, has been summoned to court in September for a show cause hearing,” during which principal Shmuel Aizenberg or a representative from his company will have to answer to allegations made by tenants of the Elizabeth Apartments, a 70-unit apartment complex at 311 Blake St., regarding the motivation behind his company’s movement to kick out nearly a quarter of those living on site. 

That comes after 16 individuals in those apartments found so-called notices to quit taped to their doors on Aug. 19, stating that their landlord would seek to evict them if they did not vacate the premises by the first of September. Read in detail about the situation in a previous article here.

Those individuals are also part of the Blake Street Tenants Union, the first residential union to be legally recognized by the city, and had been in negotiations with their landlord concerning an incoming rent hike and lease security in addition to conditions at the property prior to receiving those threats of eviction.

Because many of those long-term tenants had been on month to month leases since Ocean bought the property in 2021, the landlord cited lapse of time — meaning that the leases had expired and the landlord chose not to renew — in those notices. But tenants are fighting back against the pending evictions, arguing that Ocean was retaliating against the union by trying to eliminate a third of its members in order to reduce their negotiating power.

We think the principle here is really, really important,” New Haven legal aid attorney Amy Eppler-Epstein, who is representing the union pro-bono, told the New Haven Independent outside the courthouse Monday. Joining a tenants union and negotiating in good faith with your landlord about the typical issues — repairs, terms of a lease, rent — are protected activities.”

That’s why we’ve gone to court — because the courts have to make that clear to landlords.” 

Representatives of Ocean Management have not responded to repeated requests for comments from the Independent. They have been called upon to speak publicly on Sept. 12, when they will have to make their case against the union’s claims in court.

On Monday morning, Sarah Giovanniello, co-president of the union, arrived at court by 9 a.m. with Eppler-Epstein and housing organizers Luke Melonakos-Harris and Hannah Srajer to seek temporary injunctions against the landlord. Specifically, they asked the court to order Ocean Management to rescind those original notices and to refrain from serving further summons and complaints against targeted tenants. They also requested that Ocean be barred from unilaterally increasing rent of any members of the tenants union unless in agreement with the union or by order of the Fair Rent Commission.

The complaint, which can be read in full here, also asserts Ocean should be held responsible for damages related to stress and fear caused by the threat of eviction, noting the 16 tenant union members at risk of eviction have had to spend time and resources seeking legal assistance in the pending cases and that if the evictions become part of their public record, the ability of those individuals to obtain other housing will be harmed.

The complaint states that Ocean’s actions will not only harm individuals, but the collective of the union: Such retaliatory action and threats causes fear and anxiety in members of the tenant union by threatening them with eviction, and frustrates the tenants union ability to recruit and retain members and pursue its mission,” it reads. 

The court did not issue any of those injunctions on Monday, instead opting to wait to hear from Ocean Management directly — hence the scheduling of a hearing on Sept. 12.

But Ocean could potentially move forward with the evictions as of Sept. 5, the first business day after the month by which tenants are expected to move out. If the landlord filed formal complaints against the tenants, the evictions would be part of their permanent public records.

Has it been stressful? Absolutely,” Giovanniello said. Giovanniello did not receive a notice to quit, because she has an outstanding complaint with the Livable City Initiative against Ocean Management concerning a pest infestation and fire safety issues. Ocean was already slated to address those issues in court for the second time (following an initial failed inspection) on Sept. 12; now they will not only face accusations of poor conditions at the property, but of retaliation against the union.

This is often how landlords take advantage of tenants more broadly; it’s like a game of chicken. The stakes are much higher for me and my neighbors than for the landlord — or, at least, that’s what they’d like us to believe.” She said that the past few weeks have been fraught for anyone invested in the strength of the union, but that we’re just not going to give up.”

Melanakos-Harrison lamented that possibility Monday, recalling two pieces of state policy considered this past spring — establishing a rent cap and banning no-cause evictions — could have prevented this latest round of possible evictions.

Plus, he said, the circumstances shine a light on how the rental crisis is so severe that the mere ability to begin the eviction process is a lethal weapon used to intimidate people.”

This issue matters in a real way for every renter in Connecticut,” he said. We need the attention of our community and electeds this week because it’s the real do or die moment in what’s gonna happen with this situation.”

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