Monroe agrees to not enforce controversial rental law against resident

Pamela Lee, the main plaintiff in the ongoing lawsuit against the town of Monroe, in which she contends that a local law passed in February violates property rights, and the attorney representing the town in the federal lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York agreed to a stipulation last week whereby the town will not enforce the rent registration law against Lee during the pendency of the lawsuit.

“The plaintiff brought a motion for a preliminary injunction and the plaintiff and the town, rather than litigating the motion for a preliminary injunction, entered into a stipulation,” said attorney Stephen Gaba, who represents Monroe. “Under the stipulation, the town will not enforce the rent registration law against the named plaintiff during the pendency of the lawsuit. But, no preliminary injunction was issued, no motion was made. The town is going to continue to litigate the lawsuit and fully expects to prevail.”

When asked why the town agreed to the stipulation, Gaba said to do otherwise would cause the town to incur higher litigation fees and engage in a fight over whether to enforce a law against parties (Pamela Lee and the various LLCs involved as co-plaintiffs in the lawsuit under her control) who already have leases in the town. So, there was really no point in continuing.

The legislative intent of the law in question — “Local Law No. 3 of the Year 2023,” passed Feb. 6 — is to establish a permitting system to “enhance the delivery of municipal services, such as sanitation and code enforcement services, and emergency services such as fire, water and police services when such services are needed, and effectively aid in the maintenance of the peace and good order and a tool for the establishment of efficient planning.”

The law prohibits “any one person or entity to own more than three residential rental properties within the Town of Monroe...” The full text of the law can be found on the town’s website by searching the Document Center: monroeny.org/Resources/Document-Center.

Lee previously told The Photo News she has no issue with the law’s legislative intent, but rather with several of the stipulations included later in the law which bear no relation to the law’s stated goals, according to attorney Christopher Fromme of the Brooklyn-based Levin Law Group, which represents the plaintiff.

“There is a section in the law prohibiting ownership of more than three rental properties,” Fromme told The Photo News in July. “This violates the Fifth Amendment, which guarantees government cannot seize property without making due compensation at market value, etc. My client owns more than three rental properties in Monroe and as far as I can tell there is no grandfather clause in the law. This also violates the Contract Clause because there are ongoing rental contracts. The law is anti-business, certainly if you are in real estate, and of course it is blatantly unconstitutional.”

Multiple attempts to reach Fromme for comment on the suit’s latest development were unsuccessful by deadline and Town of Monroe Supervisor Tony Cardone said he would not comment on an ongoing legal matter.