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New York tenants' $321,729 property damage claim blocked by appeals court

By · Via Times of India · Published by Everything Blog

In short

Dostana Ljusic and co-plaintiffs initially targeted former property owner Kathleen M. Rodgers Petit over health problems linked to damp conditions in an Orange County residence. Years later, the tenants sought to introduce substantial property losses via one-page summaries but omitted receipts, purchase proofs, or valuation records. The Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department, determined that Supreme Court Justice David J. Squirrell committed a legal error by approving the amendment in September 2024. Consequently, the former landlord was spared significant prejudice resulting from an unverified, belated expansion of the long-running lawsuit.

Key points

  • Late amendments to lawsuits can be dismissed if they cause substantial prejudice to the d…: Late amendments to lawsuits can be dismissed if they cause substantial prejudice to the defending party.
  • Unexplained delays and missing documentary evidence severely undermine attempts to introd…: Unexplained delays and missing documentary evidence severely undermine attempts to introduce new financial claims.
  • The formal pre-trial evidence-gathering process had already concluded in October 2023, ma…: The formal pre-trial evidence-gathering process had already concluded in October 2023, making late expansions impermissible.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

A New York appeals court has stopped residential tenants from adding more than $321,000 in claimed damage to their personal belongings to a long-running lawsuit over damp and mould. The court pointed to years of unexplained delays, missing receipts and serious unfairness to their former landlord. In a decision issued on 28 October 2026, the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department, unanimously overturned an earlier ruling that had allowed the tenants to add the large financial claim. The ruling in Dostana Ljusic v Kathleen M. Rodgers Petit rejected an attempt by tenants Dostana Ljusic and her co-plaintiffs to add a claim of $321,728.79 for household items they said were ruined. The original lawsuit was filed in August 2018.

Initial claims and missing proof

The legal case began eight years ago when the tenants sued their former landlord, Kathleen M. Rodgers Petit. They claimed that mould exposure at a rental property in Orange County, New York, had caused health problems and made the home unsuitable to live in. According to court records published by…

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