New York Attorney General Letitia James (“AG”) filed a lawsuit against Balsamo, Rosenblatt & Hall, P.C, and its partners Robert Rosenblatt and Edward Hall for engaging in deceptive rent collection practices and initiating frivolous lawsuits against New York tenants. The AG claims that Balsamo’s housing court practice violates New York Executive Law, the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act, and the New York General Business Law. In the Kings County Supreme Court lawsuit, the AG seeks to stop Balsamo’s illegal and unfair conduct, and force them to assess and discontinue all unjust cases or amend petitions to reflect actual amounts owed. The lawsuit also asks the court to order disgorgement of all profits that Balsamo has realized from litigating the frivolous cases and order them to pay fines and penalties in an amount to be determined by the court.
The AG launched an investigation following a complaint by a tenant who was wrongfully sued when Balsamo failed to take any steps to assess the case. The AG found that Balsamo, a Brooklyn-based real estate law firm retained largely by landlords, did not conduct any meaningful reviews of documents –such as leases and deeds- in rent non-payment eviction cases before filing litigation, resulting in the distribution of deceptive rent collection letters, unnecessary legal actions against tenants, and improper evictions without cause. Balsamo is accused of having run a high-volume debt collection and eviction litigation practice by copying and pasting assertions from an intake sheet filled out by their clients without conducting any meaningful attorney review of cases, and have sued and even evicted tenants where there was no legal basis to do so. In addition to penalties, the AG seeks to stop Balsamo from all deceitful rent collection practices, suspend all unjustified cases against tenants, and return all the profits they have received from the unjustified cases.
Contact Rochester Landlord Attorneys Justin R. Friedman and Robert Friedman at (585) 484-7432 for advice on evictions, leases, rent collection and the proper screening of tenants.