DRIVING WHILE INTOXICATED

 It is not easy to find yourself facing criminal charges, particularly for those who ended up as a defendant in criminal court proceedings. You need in your corner an attorney who will stand up for you; in fact, in criminal proceeding no judge will proceed with a case with a defendant who is not represented.

 In the area of DWI (driving while intoxicated) many individuals who have been charged with it, have had no previous exposure to the criminal justice system. Yet intoxication with alcohol (or drug) related offenses are taken very seriously in the state of New York and can very often result with a criminal record that can follow you for the rest of your life. In fact, the punishments in DWI cases in the state of New York are very harsh nowadays.

The drivers are considered impaired if their blood alcohol concentration exceeds 0.05%, and legaly intoxicated if it reaches the level of 0.08%. The severity of the charges and of statutory penalties will vary depending on blood alcohol concentration, additional involvement of drugs, or whether the defendant is a repeated offender. You have to realize, however, that a first time offense can bring you  serious charges or penalties.

The charges in DWI cases are divided depending on specific factors surrounding the circumstances:

DWI - A person who is caught while driving a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08% or more can be charged with the misdemeanor of DWI. Had that defendant received another DWI within the past 10 years, he or she may be facing a felony charge.

Aggravated DWI - A person who is caught operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.18% or higher, may be charged with aggravated DWI.

DWAI (or, driving, while ability impaired) - A person who is caught operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration of between  0.05% and 0.08% may be charged with a DWAI. Even though it is not a criminal charge, the  penalties may include jail time and fines.

DWI-Drugs - A person who is caught operating a motor vehicle under influence of drugs may be charged with a DWI-Drugs.

DWI-Combination - A person who is caught operating a motor vehicle under influence of both alcohol and drugs, may be charged with a DWI-Combination.

The state of New  York has also zero-tolerance laws for drivers under the age of 21, which make it unlawul for the young drivers to operate a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration as low as 0.02%

Janusz Andrzejewski is an attorney admitted to practice law in the state of New York (June,1993) and you can contact him at (212) 634-4250 or by e-mail at janusz@januszandrzejewski.com

THE COURTS OF LAW ARE STILL IN THE "PANDEMIC MODE"

 The practice of law in New York City is still in a "pandemic mode", as I call it. The courts, like Supreme Court (civil branch), Civil Court or Family Court, in all boroughs, are quite empty. I have visited last Friday Supreme Court at 60 Centre Street in Manhattan, and was able to witness only one trial going on in one of the parts on 3rd floor. The Family Court, New York County at 60 Lafayette Street, on the same day in the morning, was a place crowded only by court bailiffs and some clerks.Same story with the Civil Court, New York County, although there were some people at some parts. The most crowded place was the Criminal Court in Manhattan at 100 Centre Street, where in the arraignment parts it was business as usual. However, also in non-arraignment parts there seemed to be quite a lot of court traffic. For those, who are fed up with court video conferences and motions, and who crave face to face interactions with the judges and opposing attorneys, the Criminal Courts now appear to be the best place to practice law.

Janusz Andrzejewski, is an attorney admitted to practice in New York since 1993 and you can contact him at (212)634-4250 or by e-mail at janusz@januszandrzejewski.com

(212) 634-4250 MY NEW PHONE NUMBER

 This is to advise my clients and readers about the new phone number, again, it is now:

 (212) 634-4250

.Please leave your messages always with your name and telephone number, or with an e-mail address, to give me a chance to get back to you.

If you cannot catch me on the phone, please try to contact me through e-mail: janusz@januszandrzejewski.com

PROCES PRAWNY-NOWY JORK-ADWOKAT JANUSZ ANDRZEJEWSKI-212-634-4250

Dochodzenia roszczen prawnych w miescie Nowy Jork, jak wszczedzie, dokonuje sie w sposob dwojaki: poprzez pozwy prawne skladane w roznych sadach, i poprzez postepowania arbitrazowe.
Co do arbitrazu, uzywany jest on zazwyczaj kiedy mamy do czynienia ze zlamaniem umowy, ktora zawierala w sobie klauzule o dochodzeniu naruszenia umowy (i szkod z tym zwiazanych) poprzez arbitraz. Dobra strona postepowania arbitrazowgo jest jego szybkosc, nieskomplikowana forma, i mniejsze koszty. Jednakze ostateczna decyzja w postepowaniu arbitrazowym musi zostac zatwierdzona przez wlasciwy sad, by nabrac mocy prawnej.
Jezeli chodzi o procesy w sadach, zaleza one od rodzaju sadow, ktore maja jurysdykcje nad danym rodzajem sprawy. Generalnie, w stanie Nowy Jork mamy sady stanowe, i sady federalne. Jezeli chodzi o sady stanowe, dziela sie one na sady cywilne i sady kryminalne, natomiast te same sady federalne rozpatruja i sprawy cywilne, i sprawy kryminalne.
Na samym dole sadow struktury instytucji prawnych w miescie Nowy Jork znajduja sie Sady Malych Roszczen (Small Claims Court) ktore rozsztrzygaja spory dotyczace roszczen do $5,000.00 wartosci. Sady Malych Roszczen rozstrzygaja jedynie spory o odszkodowania pieniazne. Sady Cywilne (Civil Court of the City of New York) zajmuja sie sprawami roszczen do $25,000.00, a Sady Najwyzsze  (Supreme Court of the State of New York) zajmuja sie sprawami powyzej $25,000.00. Miasto Nowy Jork dzieli sie na 5 powiatow (New York, Kings, Queens, Bronx i Richmond) i kazdy z tych powiatow ma swoj wlasny Sad Malych Roszczen (Small Claims Court), Sad Cywilny (Civil Court) i Sad Najwyzszy (Supreme Court).
Oprocz powyzszych sadow, na terenie kazdego powiatu miasta Nowy Jork znajduja sie takze Sady Rodzinne (Family Court), ktore maja jurysdykcje nad wszelkim sprawami rodzinnymi, za wyjatkiem spraw rozwodowych (ktore sa rozstrzygane wylacznie przez Supreme Court of the State of New York). I tak sady rodzinne zajmuja sie sprawami o ustalenie ojcostwa, alimentami, o opieke prawna nad dziecmi, adopcjami, odebraniem praw rodzicielskich, sprawami kryminalnymi maloletnich, itp.

Janusz Andrzejewski, prowadzacy niniejszy blog, jest adwokatem praktykujacym prawo w miescie i stanie Nowy Jork od 1993 roku. Mozesz skontaktowac sie z nim poprzez tel. (212) 634-4250 albo przez e-mail: janusz@januszandrzejewski.com

THE RENT LAWS OF 2019 - AMENDMENT TO LANDLORD & TENANT LAW IN NEW YORK

Last summer governor Andrew Cuomo has signed the new package of landlord and tenant laws and regulations, significantly improving the situation of residential tenants in the state of New York, and more importantly, in New York City. Collection of new laws and regulations is known under the name of the Statewide Housing Security and Tenant Protection Act of 2019, or by a short name of the Rent Laws of 2019.

The 2019 Rent Laws lengthens the process of eviction (known as holdover proceedings) as well as recovery of owed rent (known as nonpayment proceedings).

Regarding nonpayment proceedings, instead of 3 or 5 day notice of nonpayment of rent, now landlord has to serve on tenant (by a process server) 14 day notice of nonpayment, warning tenant that in case of nonpayment of the owed rent within the 14 day period, landlord would file a summary nonpayment proceeding with appropriate landlord and tenant court. Besides, prior to service of 14 day notice of nonpayment, landlord has to mail to tenant, by certified mail, a letter advising the tenant about his or her failure to pay the rent for a period of at least 5 day or longer. The rules are unclear whether the notice of failure to pay the rent for 5 or more days should be mailed to tenant prior or after the service of  14 day notice of nonpayment. Like before, in case of tenant's failure to pay the owed rent within 14 days, landlord then has to file nonpayment petition with the clerk of appropriate landlord and tenant court, and then has to serve it by a process server on tenant. However, tenant's time to answer the nonpayment petition has now been lengthened from 5 to 10 days. Also, in case of marshal's eviction notices being served upon tenant, the latter has now a longer period of time to make yet another application to landlord and tenant court to demand stopping of the eviction, provided the tenant has a reasonable basis for the application.

Janusz Andrzejewski is a New York City based attorney writing on the law and other community important topics. You can reach him at (212) 634-4250, or through e-mail: jwandrzejewski@gmail.com or janusz@januszandrzejewski.com

ZMIANA PRAWA MIESZKANIOWEGO W NOWYM JORKU (THE RENT LAWS OF 2019)

W czasie letnich wakacji weszlo w zycie nowe prawo mieszkaniowe w Nowym Jorku, poprawiajace sytuacje lokatorow, a z drugiej strony utrudniajace zycie wlascicielom budynkow mieszkaniowych. Zbior nowych przepisow poprawiajacych prawa lokatorow zawarte sa w akcie prawnym "The Statewide Housing Security and Tenant Protection Act of 2019" a calosc poprawionych praw mieszkaniowych jest znana jako The 2019 Rent Laws.
The 2019 Rent Laws wydluza procesy postepowan w sadzie o ewikcje lokatora (holdover proceedings) jak tez o sciagniecie zaleglego czynszu (nonpayment proceedings).
Jezeli chodzi o postepowanie o sciagniecie zaleglego czynszu, zamiast 3 czy 5 dniowego zawiadomienie o nieplacenie, wlasciciel musi teraz dostarczyc w okreslony prawnie sposob 14-dniowe zawiadomienie o niezaplaconym czynszu (przez dostawce procesowego). Poza tym, przed dostarczeniem tego zawiadomienia, wlasciciel musi takze wyslac innego rodzaju zawiadomienie informujace lokatora o tym ze czynsz jest zalegly co najmniej 5 dni. Przepisy sa niejasne co do tego wstepnego zawiadomienia, i dopiero przyszle orzecznictwo sedziow ma wyjasnic wlasciwe rozumienie tego przepisu (dostarczyc go przed 14 dniowym zawiadomieniem, czy pozniej).
Nastepnie, kiedy lokator nie wywiaze sie z obowiazku zaplacenia czynszu, wedlug 14-dniowego zawaidomienia, wlasciciel sklada w sadzie jak dawnie petycje o nieplacenie (nonpayment petition), i dostarcza ja lokatorowi poprzez dostawce pism procesowych, z tym  ze okres ktory lokator ma na zlozenie odpowiedzi w sadze wydluzyl sie teraz z 5 do 10 dni. Wydluzyly sie takze okresy czasu na ewikcje przez specjalnego urzednika (city marshal), po otrzymaniu wyroku i nakazu ewikcji.

Janusz Andrzejewski  jest nowojorskim adwokatem piszacym na tym blogu tematy prawne i inne wazne (czasem tez blache) tematy spoleczne. Mozesz skontaktowac sie z nim przez telefon: (212) 634-4250,  albo przez e-mail pod adresem JWANDRZEJEWSKI@GMAIL.COM albo JANUSZ@JANUSZANDRZEJEWSKI.COM

EVICTIONS (HOLDOVER PROCEEDINGS) IN NEW YORK CITY

Landlord and tenant matters, in the five boroughs of the City of New York, are handled by Civil Courts, in particular by their landlord & tenant parts. The court proceedings in landlord and tenant  matters are divided into two major groups: non-payment and holdover proceedings. Holdover proceedings deal with a situation when a landlord attempts to remove a tenant based on expiration of a lease or violation of a lease or housing regulations, whereas non-payment proceedings concern all the matters relating to non-payment of rent by tenants. Today I will write a bit on the subject of the holdover proceedings, in which an owner can initiate court proceeding based on expiration of a lease, or upon violation of a lease or landlord and tenant laws by a tenant. In case of violation of a lease or of the law, landlord has to serve on tenant a written "notice to cure" demanding that tenant cease the violation in a certain time period, most often within 10 days. If the tenant fails to cure the violation or to stop illegal conduct, then the landlord can serve a 30 day termination notice, requesting that the tenant move out within the given time period or he or she will be  into dragged into a landlord and tenant court. Frequently, tenant does not move out and landlord has to file with appropriate court and serve on tenant a holdover petition and notice of petition. The service of notice of petition on the tenant is usually accomplished by a licensed process server, who knows all the legal requirements of the proper service. Improper service of notice of petition might cause a dismissal of the court proceedings, and a necessity of restarting the case from scratch. The tenant is obligated to answer the petition, by serving an answer on the landlord (or landlord's attorney) and filing it with the landlord & tenant clerk of the appropriate Civil Court of the City of New York, within certain time limits set forth inn the notice of petition. The court proceedings usually require 2, 3 or 4 court appearances in front of a judge in a resolution part, who attempts to resolve the case amicably, by a written settlement agreement between the parties. If the parties are unable to come to an agreement, and all parties' motions were adjudicated, the resolution part judge will send the case to a trial part, where another judge would conduct a trial, at which the parties can present their case through testimony of their witnesses and documentary evidence. After presentation of the testimony, the trial part would issue a decision, either granting the landlord a judgment and warrant of eviction, or dismissing the case. Even after the warrant of eviction has been issued, landlord cannot remove tenant immediately. First, a marshal or sheriff has to serve the tenant with a notice of eviction. Even after execution of the  service of notice of eviction, the tenant has still 72 hrs for making an application with the court to stop the eviction, provided the tenant has a reasonable basis for such an application. In such a scenario the eviction is being stopped, at least until the adjudication of the tenant's application by the court. In case of denial of such an application, landlord, through marshal or sheriff, can proceed with the eviction of the tenant. Next time, I will write about landlord & tenant proceedings based on non-payment of rent.

Janusz Andrzejewski is a New York City based attorney, writing on legal and other important to community topics. You can reach him through e-mail at jwandrzejewski@gmail.com or janusz@januszandrzejewski.com, by telephone (212) 634-4250.