Client C.B. was a tenant in a rent-controlled building. Her apartment had been her home for the past fifteen years. Earlier, she sustained a traumatic brain injury when a tree branch fell on her head. As a result, she became a “pack-rat”, and her apartment was a mess. Interestingly, though her apartment would have seemed like a mess to other people, the arrangement of her belongings made “sense” to her and actually helped her remember important things. Her landlord wanted C.B. out of her unit, so that the landlord could rent it to someone else and charge a higher rent. The landlord claimed that C.B.’s mess constituted a fire-hazard, and attempted to evict her. Mr. Lagstein successfully defended C.B., and achieved victory mostly through an aggressive cross-examination of the landlord, which revealed troubling inconsistencies in her testimony.

Client W.C. was an eldely schizophrenic who forgot to timely pay his rent. He was a resident in a rent-controlled unit, and even then could barely afford to make ends meet. His landlord attempted to evict him for non-payment of rent. Mr. Lagstein successfully defended W.C. on a technicality. Mr. Lagstein spent hours investigating the case, and discovered that W.C.’s landlord neglected to post, in the premises, a critical document advising tenants of their rights. The case was dismissed on this ground.

Mr. Lagstein successfully represented a dozen Latino families who were all being illegally evicted from their apartment, so that the landlord could re-rent their apartments for a higher rent. Mr. Lagstein won all the cases based on an impromptu, aggressive cross-examination of the landlord.