855-79 LLC v. Salas

In 855-79 LLC v. Salas, 40 AD3d 553, 837 NYS2d 631 [App. Div. 1st Dept. 2007], the Appellate Division reversed a decision by the Appellate Term which found that the trial court had ruled, incorrectly, that the landlord in Salas failed to meet its burden of proof as to the tenant's acquiescence in her grandson's drug activity and wrongly dismissed the petition,. The appellate term found that the elderly and disabled tenant should have known her son and grandson kept drugs hidden in the apartment, after drawing a negative inference from the grandmother's failure to testify at trial. The Appellate Division found that "on the record, no valid line of reasoning could possibly lead to the conclusion that the tenant know or should have known of the drugs in her apartment. Certainly, there was no testimony to that effect. Nor were they any obvious signs of drug trade in the apartment, or any evidence that the tenant would have known what those signs were. ... Tenant, a spetuagenarian, suffers from a serious thyroid condition that adversely affects her vision. Both her vision and hearing had sharply declined in the five years preceding the trial". Salas, Id. at 555. The Court concluded: "Based on this record, we find this elderly, disabled tenant should not have to forfeit her right to a rent-stabilized apartment when her son, who was living with her temporarily, and her grandson, who stayed only occasionally, were charged with possession with intent to sell. Indeed, there is insufficient evidence to permit an inference that tenant was aware of any illegal drug activity". Salas, Id. at 556.