BREAKING NEWS: JUDGE TOSSES OUT YEAR-LONG PRIME APARTMENTS LAWSUIT, SAYS "TELLING SOMEONE TO GO TO BAIS DIN IS NOT HARASSMENT"

FIRST REPORT

The year-long litigation filed by tenants of Prime Apartments against their landlord Cheskel Brach is now over. 

At a court hearing held on Friday morning, Ocean County Superior Court Judge Valter Must agreed with the landlord that; a) in all this time, the tenants, who were represented by Attorneys Ian Goldman, Adam Pfeffer, and Cassandra Distefano Esq. of Levin Shea Pfeffer and Goldman, failed to prove any of their allegations against their landlord; b) the Township's Rent Control Board ordinances, including the provisions permitting landlords to file for hardship related rent increases remains valid despite that the Township Committee technically abolished the Board over 8 years ago; and c) the landlord serving hazmanos and seruvin from Bais Din on the tenants and their attorneys was not harassment as it was completely "in accordance with the rules of Bais Din."

As first reported here on FAA News, back in May 2023, 60 tenants of Prime Apartment tenants served their landlord and his property manager with a Superior Court lawsuit alleging a long list of illegal rent increases and associated harassment, intimidation and retaliation.

The tenants are Alexander Sternbuch, Shmuel and Rochel Bogart, Dovid Balter, Shmuel Banker, Aaron Beer, Yaakov Cohen, Moshe and Feigy Eisemann, Ezra Esses, Tzvi and Zipora Feifer, Chezky Feigenbaum, Yehoshua Finkel, Yisroel Friedman, Ashi Fuchs, Boruch Gellis, Yaakov Glustein, Yonah Goldberg, Yaakov Gordon, Esther Gorelick, Elozor Greenberger, Shmuel Grunhut, Yehuda Gugenheimer, Alter Halberstam, James Holtzberg, Yisroel Kanarek, Dovid Kaplan, Kirnos, Zev Kramer, Abraham Leibiker, Yehuda and Yehudis Marcus, Steven Meisels, Yisrael Mordowitz, Nochum Naiman, Chayala and Moshe Olshin, Dovid Paskesz, Meir Poltzer, Tzvi Puretz, Shlomo Reidel, Mordechai Reis, Menachem Rosenblum, Dov Rosenman, David Rothstein, Yaakov Schechter, Chaim Schwab, Chanoch Shapiro, Temima and Zachary Shemesh, Naftoli Simon, Yosef and Zizi Simon, Mordechai Snyder, Samuel Tepfer, Yisroel Weiss, and Moshe Wilner. (A number of these tenants have since settled out of court).

Since the onset of the litigation there has been extensive motion practice on both sides.

The tenants filed two emergency motions seeking to take the building out of the hands of its landlord and have a Receiver appointed to manage the building instead. Both times the judge denied to even schedule hearings on the matter, saying that he didn't deem the matter to be emergent.

A few months ago, the tenants cranked things up a notch by serving a Subpoena Duches Tecum on Sterling National Bank seeking information regarding their landlords financial relationship with them, including loan applications, underwriting files, and personal guarantees.

Likely, the reason for this move was in connection with the tenants' claims that their landlord defrauded the bank by inflating the value of the property.

It is possible that they are now hoping to use the financial applications to file criminal charges against the landlord.

In response, the landlord sought court protection to quash the subpoena, arguing that such records are way out of the scope of the litigation.

Ultimately, Judge Must did not quash the subpoena, however, he did grant a protective order so that the tenants could not use the records for anything outside of this litigation.

For his part, immediately following initiation of the lawsuit, the landlord filed a hardship rent increase application with the Lakewood Rent Control Board on the basis that he is bleeding money from this property and must raise rents in order to support the economic viability of the apartment complex.

The landlord noticed the neighbors that per the language of the Township's Ordinance, the Rent Control Board has to rule on the increase in 60 days or it is granted automatically. As the (non-existent) Board did not rule on the application by August 9, 2023, it became granted automatically retroactive to 30 days prior. As such, as of August 1, rents were increased to $2,483 as requested in the hardship application to the Rent Control Board.

Accordingly, the landlord demanded that the tenants withdraw their lawsuit from civil court. He added that any remaining claims they may have should be adjudicated in Bais Din.

The tenants attorneys responded to this demand by telling Judge Must, "our clients simply do not agree to go to any bais din!"

Mr. Brach pushed on by serving the tenants with Hasro'os (warnings) and Seruvin (contempt orders) from multiple botei din.

Additionally, back in February 2024, the landlord filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing simply that, in accordance with the Township's ordinance, his hardship increase was retroactively approved by the non-existant Rent Control Board.

Instead of responding to this simple motion, the tenants begged the judge to adjourn the motion as "they need to first sit their landlord down for a deposition." Judge Must agreed to this adjournment request.

At the deposition which occured last month, the tenants' attorneys held up the bank records which they procured through discovery and questioned their landlord. The landlord's attorney asked to receive copies of these records so they could have more time to review the information. Astoundingly, the tenants' attorneys denied this request.

The tenants then begged Judge Must to again adjourn the pending motion for summary judgment so they could do yet another day of depositions on their landlord.

At that point, Judge Must said, "it's time to rule on the motion for summary judgment. See you in court on Friday."

In their opposition brief to the motion for summary judgment, the tenants claimed that the hazmanos and seruvin that the landlord served on them to try to get them to drop their lawsuit was "harassment."

The landlord replied to this argument by citing the Appellate Division's holding in Yechezkel Schwab v. Joyce Blay et al. that serving hazmanos and seruvin from Bais Din was not harassment as it was completely "in accordance with the rules of Bais Din" as "typically, disputes in the religious community are ajudicated in Bais Din."

At a court hearing held on Friday morning, Judge Must tossed the lawsuit completely.

The judge agreed with the landlord that; a) in all this time, the tenants failed to prove any of their allegations against their landlord; b) the Township's Rent Control Board ordinances, including the provisions permitting landlords to file for hardship related rent increases remains valid despite that the Township Committee technically abolished the Board over 8 years ago; therefore as of August 1, 2023, rents were increased to $2,483 as requested in the hardship application to the Rent Control Board; and; c) the landlord serving hazmanos and seruvin from Bais Din on the tenants and their attorneys was not harassment as it was completely "in accordance with the rules of Bais Din."

Cheskel Brach was represented by Marlton Attorney Lori C. Greenberg, Esq.

What's the takeaway?

The Lakewood Township Committee's abolishment of the Rent Control Board (which was done years ago to help "one of the boyz") continues to cause havoc for landlord and tenants alike, as that Board was the only venue granted jurisdiction to accept complaints from tenants of illegal rental increases, investigate complaints, reduce rents based on landlord's breach of covenants in lease or implied covenants, such as habitability, as well as to accept applications from landlords who are seeking rental increase based on hardship, unusual expenses, tax surcharge or other circumstances, and to adjust rents based on landlord's subsequent change in position caused by law or economic conditions.

Despite that this contentious litigation has been ongoing in civil court since May 2023, and despite that this story highlights the havoc caused by the abolishment of the Rent Control Board, shockingly, Township officials have been silent this entire time, with no public statements regarding the abolishment of the Rent Control Board and whether or not it will be reinstated.

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