Barred From Court Due to Supposed Blacklist

This is certainly a huge loss from a property rights perspective. Currently the State tells NY landlords who they can rent to, how much they can charge, and how to maintain their buildings. With so little under their control landlords only have the barest appearance of ownership as it is.

In any case, the judge’s reasoning is suspect. There is nothing preventing the tenant from being added to the ‘blacklist’ even if the case is tried in Supreme Court and now Dawn Weisert can be identified as a problem tenant with a google search.

A Manhattan judge has barred a landlord from launching eviction proceedings against a Chelsea tenant because the tenant could unfairly be "blacklisted" by other landlords even if she wins her case.

The judge, state Supreme Court Justice Barbara Kapnick, said tenant Dawn Weisert could suffer "irreparable harm" if she's sued in Housing Court because that court sells its eviction data to "tenant-screening bureaus" that, in turn, sell the information to landlords around the country.

Kapnick cited a recent ruling by a federal court judge who found that "risk-averse landlords are all too willing to use such 'consumer reports' as a 'blacklist,' refusing to rent to anyone whose name appears on it."