Thomas Breen photo
The state courthouse at 121 Elm St., where housing courts and eviction proceedings have been on hold since March.
Two New Haven-based landlords have joined a handful of fellow rental property owners from across the state in suing the governor to try to overturn the state’s pandemic-induced eviction moratorium.
The landlords filed that suit in Connecticut federal district court on June 16.
The plaintiffs include various holding companies owned by Bristol-based landlord David Haberfeld, Meriden-based landlord Jay Sheth, and New Haven-based real estate partners David Candelora and Ben Eastman. The plaintiffs also include the Waterbury-based holding company FD Management LLC, which does not have a principal owner named on the state’s business entity database.
The lawsuit alleges that Gov. Ned Lamont overstepped his office’s bounds and violated the property owners’ rights to private contract, due process, equal protection under the law, and their right from having their property taken for public use without just compensation when he instituted a statewide residential eviction moratorium on March 19. That moratorium currently extends through August 22.
“The Plaintiffs bring this action seeking a declaratory judgment that the Defendant’s actions are unconstitutional, and seeking injunctive relief requiring the Defendant to rescind his unconstitutional orders and any attempts at enforcement thereof. Further, the Plaintiffs seek damages,” the complaint reads.
State Assistant Attorney General Maria Rodriguez responded on July 10 that a preliminary injunction — that is, the court’s agreeing to overturning the eviction moratorium — would be “an extraordinary and drastic remedy” given the severity of the Covid-19 pandemic and Lamont’s emergency authority to issue executive orders intended to protect the people of Connecticut at this time.
“Plaintiffs ask this Court to temporarily enjoin some of those Orders,” Rodriguez wrote in a motion to dismiss the case. “Plaintiffs have a heavy burden to establish their factual and legal right to such relief. Plaintiffs come nowhere near meeting their burden. Plaintiffs’ legal arguments are ill-founded, speculative and conclusory.”
According to the federal court’s docket, this case is slated to be heard by U.S. District Judge Victor Bolden at 9 a.m. Wednesday via the Zoom videoconferencing platform.
Click here to read the landlords’ complaint, and here to read the state’s response.
The core of the landlords’ complaint is that the governor has deprived them of one of the most important tools rental property owners have to enforce the payment of rent by their tenants: That is, eviction.
“Connecticut law allows those who follow the legal process established by state statute to own and let real property, with the legal ability to repossess such property from the tenant upon the tenant’s failure to abide by the statutory and/or lease terms of the tenant’s tenancy, including the timely payment of rent,” wrote the landlords attorneys, Craig Fishbein, Doug Dubitsky, and Cara Christine Pavalock‑D’Amato.
“The Defendant has, under color of law but without legal authority, infringed on and interfered with the Plaintiffs’ rights under the United States Constitution, Connecticut statutes, and the common law, while leaving the rights of landlords of commercial properties undisturbed.”
Such an action, they wrote, leaves landlords helpless. And without relief from the court, “the Plaintiffs will suffer ongoing irreparable harm.”
The complaint alleges that Candelora and Eastman’s two local real estate companies, BD Property Holdings LLC and Prime Management LLC, have lost out on March, April and May rent for one of the apartments in a property they own at 191 Sherman Ave. They said that the current eviction moratorium means that they they cannot evict that tenant until late August at the earliest.
In addition to the eviction moratorium, Lamont has also set aside $10 million for a statewide rental assistance program for low-income tenants directly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tenant advocates have called for Lamont to increase that amount to over $100 million, considering the widespread loss of employment and income due to the pandemic, as well as the essential need to have stable housing amidst a public health crisis. National legal experts like Emily Benfer predict that the country could see upwards of 20 million to 28 million Americans evicted by the end of September.
In an amicus brief filed in the case on July 15, a group of legal aid associations from across the state, including New Haven Legal Assistance Association, argue that repealing the state’s eviction moratorium would be disastrous, particularly for low-income tenants.
“An eviction surge would have devastating health consequences for low-income communities, threatening the hard-won gains Connecticut has made in controlling the spread of the virus,” they wrote. “In order to reduce the spread of COVID-19, Connecticut residents have been told to
practice social distancing, stay home, and shelter in place. But you cannot shelter in place without shelter. When families are evicted, by definition, they are forced out of their homes.” Click here to read that brief.