MFJ in the News

Long-Term Solutions to Three-Quarter Houses

MFY Attorney Tanya Kessler is quoted extensively in an article in City & State focusing on the long-term solutions to the problems of three-quarter houses, highlighting the need to increase the city’s shelter allowance for single adults, combat Medicaid fraud, end the exclusion of people with criminal records from public housing, and explore new models …

MFY Defends Tenants Harassed by Morningside Heights Landlord

MFY has defended tenants in buildings owned by The Orbach Group, the subject of a recent New York Times article describing the landlord’s attempts to force out rent-regulated tenants through harassment, baseless eviction proceedings, and heavy-handed buyout offers. Read the article here.

New York Times Report Draws Attention to Abusive Three-Quarter House Industry

MFY’s work to defend residents of three-quarter houses and end abusive practices was recognized in a major exposé in the New York Times on May 31, 2015. Staff from MFY’s Three-Quarter House Project worked with the Times reporter over a period of many months and facilitated interviews with members of the Three-Quarter House Tenant Organizing …

Elizabeth Lynch Named 2015 Rising Star

Elizabeth Lynch, MFY Legal Services’ supervising attorney for the Foreclosure Prevention Project, was among 50 young lawyers chosen as 2015 Rising Stars by the New York Law Journal’s panel of 24 esteemed judges.  In addition to her zealous advocacy for individual clients and leadership of seven foreclosure attorneys, Ms. Lynch has co-authored three reports that …

Manhattan Senior Gets Apartment Back after 20-Month Battle

On April 9, 2015 AM-New York reported on the 20-month saga of an 80-year-old Manhattan woman represented by MFY Legal Services who was illegally evicted from her home of 36 years while hospitalized with serious injuries after being hit by a bicycle. While she was recovering in a nursing home, the landlord gutted the apartment  …

MFY Urges Passage of Consumer Credit Fairness Act

MFY supports swift passage of the Consumer Credit Fairness Act (CCFA) (A. 4438), which would strengthen the pleading requirements in debt collection cases, enhance notice requirements, and require greater information when applying for a default judgment, thereby leveling the playing field for pro se litigants.  CCFA will codify many of the provisions found in the …

Home Care Workers Win Class Certification in Wage Theft Suit

A home health care worker formerly employed by First Care of New York, Inc. won class certification allowing his lawsuit against the agency on behalf of hundreds of home health care workers to proceed. The worker, represented by MFY Legal Services and Abbey Spanier LLP, charges that the agency failed to pay him the required …

MFY Scores Victory against Adoption Subsidy Fraud

After three children ran away from their adoptive parent, their older brother took them in and secured legal guardianship. But the city kept paying a subsidy to the adoptive parent. The Bronx Family Court ordered the adoptive parent the pay back and ongoing support to the older brother, who was struggling to provide for his …

Homeowners Can Now Challenge Bank’s Failure to Negotiate in Good Faith

MFY attorney Chantal Hernandez won an important victory for homeowners in foreclosure with a decision by the Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department that holds that a bank’s failure to follow federal government regulations constitutes a failure to negotiate in good faith. The court also agreed that tolling of interest on the mortgage while the bank …

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