By Eileen Hickey
I am a 71-year-old citizen/comedian/artist in an eight-year divorce facing possible eviction from my home of 43 years, which is maintained by my neighbors and myself, not the landlord.
I am arguing pro se—that is, without an attorney—due to having no money and being on food stamps. My “Leave to Appeal and Request for a Stay of Eviction” at the Appellate Division, First Department, Supreme Court (27 Madison Avenue) takes place on Tuesday, December 5, 2017 at 10:00 a.m.
Please come and support me. Also, call 311 and file a complaint with the Mayor’s office. They will give you a complaint number. Send it to me if you can.
I have had no chance to defend myself. I have never had a trial. I am possibly being evicted for allegedly not filing numerous documents which can clearly be seen on eCourts (eCourts.com/Supreme), Index #155593/2014. My appeal is for a fair trial, to not be evicted for a technicality over a discovery dispute.
Judge Nancy Bannon, in the Supreme Court, Civil Branch at 111 Centre Street, could sign the order evicting me at any time. I have woken up in dread every day for four years feeling like the guillotine is hanging over my neck. I feel helpless and terrified. My own attorney wrote to me telling me of her loss in the Appellate Division: “If you do not pay us an additional $20,000…prepare to surrender [the] premises in advance of [the] impending eviction.” I am now bullied for money, homeless, and penniless at age 71.
There is nothing funny about this oppressive, crushing abuse, with two newspapers’ fabricated articles, possibly planted by my landlord’s attorney and allowed in court by Judge Bannon, as substantiated evidence, not the tabloid fodder they are.
Judge Cooper acknowledged Julia Marsh, one of the reporters, from the bench, when I begged her to come to court so I could give my side of the story. She came, and after talking to my husband’s attorney and Judge Cooper, she did a hatchet job on me. I feel callously and contemptuously treated, never allowed to speak, sent to the back of the room, told that “only attorneys can stand” when I was pro se for two years, due to a lack of money.
There is no due process; I have no protection unless I pay, forcing the sale of my only asset. I have not had a civil liberty since my husband filed for divorce seven and a half years ago. I have been, in two chilling incidents, beaten and jailed, a victim of constant shakedowns for money from attorneys and court-ordered “experts.”
I have suffered numerous legal violations. The ‘level playing field’ was never given to me and ‘[maintaining] the same lifestyle as during the marriage’ is a joke because my husband was given 93% while I received 7%.
Judge Nancy Bannon railroaded me into the Appellate Division and denied me due process, striking the documents I filed. Judges/landlords use unclear laws to evict seniors and get their stabilized units out of affordable housing and return them to market rates—an increase as high as 20%.
Mayor de Blasio must provide attorneys for all tenants in housing court. This is why my landlord sued me in the Supreme Court and why I am now in the Appellate Division, First Department. My landlord has now served the only other stabilized tenant in the building, also 70 years old, eviction papers on a baseless charge.
Judge Matthew Cooper is also biased and has allowed my spouse to destroy my business and ruin my career. He has also kept me away from the business that my husband and I built together over 40 years, leaving me with no resources.
The judges and attorneys have engaged in themselves and allowed my husband, as well as my landlord and his attorney, to implement a scorched earth policy of intimate terrorism such as abusive actions, communications, and litigation tactics designed to intimidate, humiliate, and destroy me. They want me suicidal, dead, and/or homeless, with zero resources.
“Without the state changing rent laws allowing big hikes on vacant apartments, laws will never be respected,” said Edward Josephson, Director of Litigation and Housing at Legal Services NYC. As AARP put it, “It is a frightening story that is becoming the norm.”
How can NYC allow a 71-year-old, hardworking, tax-paying citizen to be evicted, made penniless, and possibly homeless, on a technicality? I have been persecuted, battered, and raped in our court system—a place that is portrayed as just and fair. It is not. Justice is not impartial. In reality, it is oppressive and deceptive.
I am terrified. I need help NOW. I need a pro bono attorney to file emergency papers to stay any eviction proceedings IMMEDIATELY and ultimately get this case dismissed.
Dear Mr Capsis,
Something seems fishy about Eileen Hickey’s eviction story. Ms. Hickey says she is representing herself because she has no money and is on food stamps. I have friends who are poor, who live in rent regulated, tenement apartments in the West Village and have for a very long time. They live on fixed incomes (low social security) and receive benefits they are entitled to such as scree (rent freeze) and snap (aka food stamps). Two different senior friends, both artists, who live in rent regulated apartments have had new owners try to evict them. They always paid their rent on time or paid into an escrow account if the landlord refused their tent. (This is VERY important.) In each case, because they could not afford a lawyer, their Judges referred them to Legal Services, which is a non-profit located in Housing Court and is free to poor clients. In both cases my friends won. They were able to stay in their apartments. Why did not Ms. Hickey seek out services she is entitled to as a poor senior? Why did she not put aside her rent and have it ready to pay when she was asked to pay? There are lots of unanswered questions that her self-written article does not address. I know from reading the paper you have a contributor who is a civil rights attorney. He has written about senior abuse by landlords in Westview. Did you run the article by him before publishing Ms. Hickey’s article? I would like to know his take on her situation. Please understand I am very opposed to the abuse by landlords of seniors in my neighborhood. But I also believe that both landlords and tenants have obligations and responsibilities that they are obliged to act on in these ugly situations.
Smith Aldridge
West Village
Dear Smith Aldridge,
Thank you so much for reading the article about me.My landlord filed against me in Supreme Court, not Housing Court, where Legal Aide told me this would have been dismissed years ago. .Legal Aid, MFY, and the 250 other agencies I duly contacted, not believing that there would be no one to help me, DO NOT REPRESENT CLIENTS IN SUPREME COURT, ONLY HOUSING COURT. IF YOU HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS I WILL FOLLOW UP IMMEDIATELY. I HAVE NEVER BEEN LATE WITH MY RENT IN THE 43 YEARS I HAVE LIVED HERE, INSTALLING EVERY CUPBOARD, LIGHT FIXTURE, HEAT, HOT WATER, TOILET, SINKS, GAS, ELECTRIC. HANK YOU SO MUCH OR YOUR KIND WORDS. YOU CAN REACH ME AT: 917-716-5976. The landlord has returned my rent since June 2013. The landlord has not had to prove anything. The Judge dismissed all my papers as if they had not been filed. I don’t know why. I have repeatedly offered to pay all rent, and the landlord has refused, saying he wants only young men who have money, and that I should go live in an old age home, he will get me out, he will put all my things on the street, he will take everything from me, I will never have anything again.
You DID know why, you are a scammer that used AirbNB and made hundreds of thousands of dollars for yourself and your fancy jewelry. You are now butthurt because you got CAUGHT so now you play the poor picked on “I’m a senior citizen” line..