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Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. Uses Testimony and Common Sense to Win Six-Figure Judgment for Use and Occupancy

In this case of prevailing common sense and sheer proof, the attorneys at Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C., retained by the landlord of a West Side Manhattan apartment building, discovered that one of the building’s tenants of record was paying $300 a month for a 1,500 square foot apartment where he had not actually lived for over fifteen years. The tenant continued to have his “paperwork” sent to the apartment, which was, in reality, being used as a storage room for his business operating in upstate New York where he had a 98-acre estate.

A well-respected law firm had previously determined the case was not winnable because there was no film footage of the tenant’s whereabouts or comings and goings to and from the apartment and the documenting evidence such as the paperwork being regularly mailed to the address went completely in favor of the tenant. In a bench trial, that firm would probably have been correct.

However, in a jury trial, where the days of testimony are compressed and a number of tenants were willing to testify against somebody who was taking advantage of everybody, this was not the case.

The attorneys from Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. used aerial photography to prove that the tenant was not living in the claimed residence in the city. The Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. attorneys profiled the jury, using witness testimony when speaking to them. After speaking to the tenants, the jurors’ notion of common sense also helped with the case.

The jury decided the case in under an hour. Testimony coupled with common sense won the day and the case.

The tenant ended up with a six-figure judgment — $100K with a $180K judgment used against the tenant — for use and occupancy as opposed to rejecting a six-figure settlement offer.

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