NYC Renters Appeal Property Tax Discrimination Ruling

Law360, New York (January 25, 2016, 4:09 PM ET) -- A proposed class of New York City residents on Friday asked a New York state judge to overturn a lower court’s ruling, which dismissed claims that the city’s property tax system favors homeowners like Mayor Bill De Blasio and disproportionately harms black and Latino renters.

The appellants said the lower court wrongly held that the putative class lacked standing to bring the suit because they do not pay property taxes directly to the city, arguing that their claims meet requirements under the Fair Housing Act and that they are not obligated to demonstrate a contractual commitment to pay the entirety of their respective landlords' tax bills.

"All we’re asking for is a chance for a fair hearing and we think that by dismissing the complaint at this stage, the courts denied our clients the opportunity to have their day in court,” appellants’ attorney Randolph M. McLaughlin of Newman Ferrara LLP told Law360 Monday.

The renters claimed that New York City's property tax system is fundamentally unfair and cited the mayor’s property tax rate as an example, calculating that in 2014 De Blasio paid $3,389 in property tax on his three-story brownstone, which is located in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Park Slope.

By contrast, according to estimates made by the city, a renter paying $1,000 a month to live in a studio apartment in a large apartment building in a predominantly Latino part of the borough would have paid almost $4,000 in property taxes as part of their annual rent, the appellants said. In the proposed class action, named plaintiffs Ernest Robinson, a black renter in the Bronx, and Rosa Rodriguez, a Hispanic renter in Queens, seek to represent a class of black and Latino residents of New York City rental properties with 11 or more units.

Judge Frank P. Nervo tossed the suit on April 20, saying the plaintiffs could only speculate as to which portion of their rent goes toward their landlord’s taxes and that they lacked evidence demonstrating that their rents would be lower under a different tax system.

The City and State argued in July 2014 that the courts are an inappropriate venue for the tax discrimination dispute and that the plaintiffs had not established a firm link between their rents to the city's tax system.

Counsel information for the city and state of New York was not immediately available on Monday.

The appellants are represented by Lucas A. Ferrara and Randolph M. McLaughlin of Newman Ferrara LLP.

The appeal is Ernest Robinson and Rosa Rodriguez v. the City of New York and State of New York, case number 151679/2014, in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate Division—First Department.

--Additional reporting by Eric Kroh. Editing by Kelly Duncan.