In re Gateway Plaza Residents Litigation

Case Type: Consumer Fraud

Company: LeFrak Organization

The LeFrak Organization, one of the largest landlords in New York City, put the deep freeze on hundreds of Battery Park City residents during one of the coldest winters in recent memory. That is the accusation at the heart of a class action lawsuit filed today in Supreme Court, New York County by the law firm of Sanford Heisler Sharp.

The class action suit is brought by Maureen Koetz, a resident of the neighborhood’s Gateway Plaza, a development with more than 1,700 rental units in the heart of lower Manhattan. Ms. Koetz, a former vice president of the Gateway Tenants’ Association, describes how temperatures inside the complex regularly dropped to below 55 degrees this winter as well as past winters.

An inspection of several apartments on March 4, 2014, revealed that cold air streamed in freely through the windows and air conditioning units. Residents say that their windows are so faulty that on cold days frost accumulates on the inside of the windows and has to be cleared by the tenants themselves so that it does not cause water damage.

“LeFrak did not live up to its obligations as a landlord during one of the worst winters in recent memory,” said Jeremy Heisler, a founding partner of Sanford Heisler Sharp and a managing partner of the Firm’s New York office. “Under New York law, a landlord warrants that the premises are fit for human habitation, but the Gateway tenants found themselves shivering in their own homes.”

Gateway Plaza is a group of high-rise apartment buildings located at 345, 355, 365, 375, 385 and 395 South End Avenue, New York, New York. In addition to the LeFrak Organization, the lawsuit names as defendants Marina Tower Associates, L.P., Gateway Plaza Management Corp., and the Battery Park City Authority.

The suit seeks recovery of rent and electricity overpayments as well as an injunction requiring Defendants to rectify Gateway’s defective conditions.