For more than 30 years, former NYPD officer Mikhail Vinitsky has called Kings Bay Houses home. Since 2014, he has also been living with ALS, a disease that has steadily eroded his mobility. Yet while he was hospitalized and unable to pick up his mail, Vinitsky says he was hit with a nonpayment lawsuit and ordered to show up in Brooklyn Housing Court. Court papers accuse him of owing more than $10,000 in back rent, fees and a penalty tied to a missed income recertification, according to his family and advocates. The case has caught the attention of Legal Aid and tenant groups, who say it is a textbook example of how routine notice and court procedures can leave disabled New Yorkers dangerously exposed.
How the suit unfolded
Management at the Kings Bay complex filed a summary nonpayment petition after sending notices to Vinitsky’s apartment while he was in the hospital, with the complaint seeking more than $10,000 in alleged arrears, fees and a recertification penalty, as reported by amNewYork. His family says he spent months hospitalized and simply could not receive or respond to the mailed paperwork. After the filing, The Legal Aid Society stepped in and offered to represent him, aiming to address the lawsuit itself and head off any risk of a default judgment that could flow from missed court dates he never realistically could attend.
How courts say disabled tenants can avoid defaults
The state court system allows tenants and other litigants to request reasonable accommodations when a disability makes it hard or impossible to appear in person. Judges also have established procedures for undoing default judgments if a tenant can show a valid excuse for missing a court date. According to the New York State Unified Court System, tenants can ask for ADA accommodations by contacting court accessibility staff by phone or email and submitting paperwork that supports an adjournment or a remote appearance instead of an in-person visit. The formal steps for asking for accessibility changes and for vacating a default judgment are spelled out by New York Courts.
Free legal help and hotlines that can help
For tenants who are already in the crosshairs of a nonpayment case, city programs and nonprofit legal services can be the difference between a crisis and a manageable problem. New York City’s Right to Counsel program connects eligible tenants to free lawyers for housing court matters, and advocates say getting screened early is often the quickest path to an adjournment or a lawyer being assigned. The group Eviction Free NYC explains how the Right to Counsel screening process works. Meanwhile, Housing Court Answers runs a hotline that helps tenants make sense of court papers, file answers in nonpayment cases and get referrals to legal services when they qualify.
Paperwork pitfalls that land people in court
Vinitsky’s experience highlights a familiar trap for long-term tenants who become seriously ill. Management companies and landlords often stick to mailed notices and strict recertification deadlines, which can quickly spiral into a summary nonpayment petition when a tenant is incapacitated and cannot open the mailbox, much less trek to a management office. “Tenants who set up systems to manage payments can still be unaware they owe money,” Legal Aid’s Jeannine Cahill-Jackson told amNewYork. Advocates say that in cases involving a long rental history and a known medical crisis, landlords should try multiple forms of outreach, such as phone calls, emails or contacting a family member, before racing to court when an accommodation or other remedy might be more appropriate.
Legal implications
Under the law, courts must make reasonable modifications to their usual procedures when a disability requires it, and they must communicate in ways that allow litigants with disabilities to participate meaningfully. A tenant who misses a court date because of a hospitalization can ask the court to vacate any default judgment and, at the same time, file a request for accommodations so future appearances can be handled in a way they can actually manage. The court’s accessibility guidance details where those requests should be sent and what they should include. When a documented disability is not taken into account before a default judgment is entered, that failure can be grounds to ask a judge to reopen the case and offer alternative ways for the tenant to appear and be heard, according to New York Courts.
Vinitsky’s lawsuit has already prompted a legal response, but tenant advocates warn that many disabled New Yorkers have no idea what steps to take, or even what phone numbers to call, when they find themselves in similar trouble. Tenants who need help can dial 311 and ask for the Tenant Helpline, reach out directly to Housing Court Answers for guidance and referrals or use Right to Counsel materials to see if they qualify for a free attorney. Both Housing Court Answers and Eviction Free NYC list hotlines, intake steps and basic forms that tenants can use to request accommodations or to file an answer when a nonpayment case lands in their lap.
