In the lawsuit, the Attorney General seeks injunctive relief requiring Chestnut Holdings to comply with the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act, including bringing all apartments into compliance with the Acts requirements, penalties for its repeated violations of the Act, and disgorgement of money it would have expended to comply with the Act. Chestnut Holdings of New York is a family-owned real estate investment and property management firm with a long track record of successful, responsible and reliable management. The New York attorney general is filing a lawsuit against a Bronx-based property management company for violations of the city's Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act. The OAG has been active in holding landlords and property managers accountable for violating childhood lead poisoning prevention laws in New York. Plaintiff Huggins regularly worked as many as seven days and well over 40 hours each week, including the requirement that he be on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week to deal with any issues in the residential multifamily properties that the Defendants owned. The event brought out close to100 volunteers who enjoyed a great day of helping to beautify and restore Claremont Park. We are fortunate to have Letitia James in our corner as Attorney General. All rights reserved. Revelations in 2018 that the New York City Housing Authority covered up exposure to lead which can damage childrens brains shocked the public and led to the appointment of a federal monitor. The State of New York, its officers, employees, and/or agents shall not be liable for damages or losses of any kind arising out of, or in connection with, the use or performance of such information, including but not limited to, damages or losses caused by reliance upon the accuracy of any such information, or damages incurred from the viewing, distributing, or copying of such materials. Se habla espaol In September 2020, she sued a group of Buffalo individuals and companies for repeated violations of city, county, state, and federal laws by illegally allowing lead paint-related hazards to proliferate in their rental properties. Lead poisoning is completely preventable, and the city has plenty of laws on the books but they are rarely enforced. Chestnut Holdings will pay $300,000 to the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) for initiatives to protect children from lead poisoning and ensure that all of its more than 6,000 apartments throughout New York City are in full compliance with the law. Lindos case is similar to another one of the plaintiffs, who was living in a shelter at the time of their apartment search. Lead poisoning in New York City is highest among children of color and children living in high-poverty neighborhoods; low-income children represent 66 percent, and Asian, Black, and Latino children represent 84 percent, of children under 6 in the city with elevated lead levels. Lead paint in residential housing has been a pervasive problem for decades, particularly in New York. Having lead paint in an apartment is not necessarily illegal if there is no risk of exposure, but when building owners paint over it rather than remove it which is expensive it can eventually resurface. She believes she was discriminated against by a broker at Chestnut Holdings. Any future violation of the law by Chestnut Holdings will violate the agreement and subject the company to possible legal action by the OAG. We never thought we would be in that position, but a lot of people are. But, far too many New York City landlords continue to ignore their obligations under the law and expose our children to wholly-preventable lead-based paint hazards. In the lawsuit, the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) identifies six specific Dalfin properties that serve as examples of the egregious and illegal lead hazard management practices used by the landlords and the poisoning of children in those properties. Understanding Recent Changes to New Yorks Gun Laws, Repeated and Persistent Violations Result in Continuing Health Risks, Dozens of Reported Childhood Lead Poisonings. An attorney representing Chestnut Holdings responded to this lawsuit saying the company has fully and completely cooperated with the Attorney General's Office in its lead paint investigation. hbbd``b`9$>`n> 1 u) q "D,i. Childrens lives and futures are a stake in this ongoing effort, and the actions we take today will help to safeguard our youth and punish those who would harm them., Families living in Buffalos older, distressed properties are disproportionately vulnerable to the serious health consequences of lead poisoning, said U.S. Representative Brian Higgins. Unfortunately, tenants are often denied a fair chance at renting an apartment due to source-of-income discrimination, where housing vouchers are seen as less desirable forms of payment. What Is A Loft Apartment and Why Do I Need One? Attorney General James also thanks the City of New York and New York state's Homes and Community Renewal for their assistance with data collection during this investigation. hUmo0+jlNH4t : C AkH5tKl#'FM|X0'UH^F+y{OBhiOio+O| l5r(>Vb[NX+Y,. Select a Language Below/Seleccione el Idioma Abajo. Chestnuts strong safety record speaks to its commitment to all of its tenants, its communities, and its neighbors, but most especially children.. The lawsuit against We see it in landlords big and small., Mallery Morrison, 39, is one of the plaintiffs in the case. According to a complaint her office filed today, Chestnut Holdings repeatedly exposed children to lead paint and fraudulently certified that it had complied with the law passed to prevent that. Too many suffer from a lifetime of avoidable debilities here in New York City. hb```b``g`2@(@x*G78hvqiC]Vr M?3X0O;t; w8#?N9f-jY#cl ?'or: A+D5?-cuzF>g$]asy`MsrT `^a' 5~_A6OX9M9 E I_[EQ TyV)mt)H}Ri}+gE6I~_9*Ae`h`Mh DG8 ;:B fh``6X- u Her and her husband were being evicted from their apartment after he fell off a scaffold and was no longer able to work his construction job. agreement resolving her lawsuit against landlord John Kiggins and his company, Endzone Properties, Inc., for failing to protect children from lead paint hazards in Syracuse. The violations by the group, which has owned and managed more than 150 single- and two-family homes in predominantly low-income communities of color, has led to dozens of reported instances of childhood lead poisoning. The Bronx rental management company firmly denies the accusations, claiming they have hundreds of tenants currently paying for rent in vouchers. The landlords frequently allowed paint on their properties to deteriorate to the point of being a lead hazard instead of preventing deterioration of paint, as required by local and state building codes, and only addressed the lead hazard after a lead-poisoned child was discovered. Chestnut Holdings is getting slapped This Google translation feature is provided for informational purposes only. As a landlord to thousands of children and families, Chestnut failed to safeguard its tenants, but, today, we are ensuring their health will be protected moving forward. Lead poisoning persists as one of themost prevalent and preventable environmental diseases in New York, with thousands of children having blood leadlevels above the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions reference value. And we greatly appreciate the attorney generals willingness to pay attention to the call for action from local stakeholders, including Families for Lead Freedom Now, and to pursue a bright line against childhood lead poisoning in Syracuse.. The OAG also found that Kiggins and Endzone engaged in repeated illegal and fraudulent acts by either not providing federally required lead disclosures or providing materially false and deceptive lead disclosures to tenants and purchasers of Endzoneproperties. Todays agreement, negotiated in partnership with Onondaga County and the City of Syracuse, permanently bans Kiggins and Endzone from managing or owning residential rental properties in the state of New York. Elevated blood lead levels are also more prevalent in Buffalos low-income neighborhoods than high-income neighborhoods. Her commitment to investigating and identifying these individuals demonstrates her dedication and commitment to defending the most vulnerable members of our society., The fact that the city of Buffalo will be joining in this lawsuit as a co-plaintiff in this case is major, said Buffalo Councilmember Mitch Nowakowski. Bronx Borough President Lauds Chestnut Holdings at State of the Borough Address-, Chestnut Holdings and Dream Yard Project team up for, Chestnut employee featured in international magazine bringing acclaim to company, Historic Sholem Aleichem Complex in the press-, Volunteers and community cleanup Claremont Park , College of New Rochelle Unloads South Bronx Building , Students proudly discuss their art and experience during the six-month project between Chestnut Holdings and DreamYard , Bronx Students Display Art for Local Apartment Building , P.S. Residents of the Bronx took part inClaremont Park Dayas Chestnut Holdings partnered with The Bronx is Blooming and The NYC Department of Parks and Recreation to engage the community through environmental stewardship and educational activities. On February 6, 2018, Plaintiff Huggins filed a civil lawsuit in the United States District Court Southern District of New York against CHESTNUT HOLDINGS OF NEW James says her office reached out multiple times to Chestnut Holdings, but did not get a response. Unfortunately, some landlords have ignored that responsibility with impunity., New York Lawyers for the Public Interest supports Attorney General Letitia James' offices action today to protect families from toxic lead exposure through enforcement of New York Citys Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act, Local Law 1 of 2004, said Christine Appah, senior staff attorney, Environmental Justice Program, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest. endstream endobj startxref Chestnut Holdings has recently come under fire for allegedly turning away tenants with housing vouchers. I commend Attorney General Letitia James for filing suit against landlords who have so flagrantly ignored the laws we have put in place to protect our children. However, the "Google Translate" option may assist you in reading it in other languages. The lawsuit, filed in October 2021, alleged that Kiggins and Endzone endangered the health of its tenants, primarily children, by repeatedly violating lead paint The lawsuit, filed in October 2021, alleged that Kiggins and Endzone endangered the health of its tenants, primarily children, by repeatedly violating lead paint laws and failing to properly address related hazards. According to a 2018 study, the city of Buffalo suffers from some of the highest rates of childhood lead exposure in the nation from poor housing conditions in old homes with lead paint. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that in 2017, 715 children in Erie County under six years of age tested with blood lead levels between 5 and 9 g/dL, and 415 children tested with blood lead levels of 10 g/dL or higher. Lead is a highly toxic metal that can cause serious and irreversible adverse health effects. NEW YORK STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL. The company was later dropped from the suit. Lead paint has been found in approximately 43 percent of all of New York dwellings. CALL: 516-248-5550 Exposure to lead paint in our aging housing stock puts children in grave jeopardy and our future at risk, James said in a statement. Chestnut is considering its options including a possible lawsuit for harassment and defamation. The art will continue to hang in the building lobby for all residents to enjoy. This matter is being handled by Assistant Attorneys General Abigail Katowitz and Patrick Omilian, Environmental Scientist Jennifer Nalbone, Investigator Joseph Kelly, and Project Assistant Isabel Murphy, all under the supervision of Environmental Protection Bureau Chief Lemuel M. Srolovic. The group also consistently violated federal lead disclosure requirements by providing either no lead disclosure statement to tenants or false disclosures, which stated that the landowner had no reports of lead paint or lead paint hazards, when in fact there were multiple reports of lead paint and lead paint hazards regarding the residences. Lead is a highly toxic metal that can cause serious and irreversible adverse health effects. endstream endobj 3119 0 obj <>/AcroForm 3137 0 R/Lang( E N - U S)/MarkInfo<>/Metadata 219 0 R/OCProperties<>/Outlines 289 0 R/OutputIntents 3115 0 R/PageLayout/OneColumn/Pages 3099 0 R/StructTreeRoot 326 0 R/Type/Catalog>> endobj 3120 0 obj <>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text]>>/Rotate 0/StructParents 0/Tabs/S/Type/Page>> endobj 3121 0 obj <>stream Back in 2018, a woman sued Chestnut Holdings for failing to accept her, Tips for Remote and Hybrid Learning in NYC.
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