23-76 33rd Street Realty Corp. v. Fatma Ebrahim Hassan
July 25, 2012
(Civ. Ct. Queens Cty. 12/15/98)
Tenant moved to vacate a stipulation of settlement on the basis that she did not understand English and no Arabic interpreter was provided by the court at the time the stipulation was entered into, and that she had no lawyer at that time. The court requisitioned and listened to tapes of the allocution of the stipulation and held that tenant had the ability to understand the terms of the stipulation. Moreover, a hearing was held on tenant’s motion to vacate the stipulation, wherein the tenant answered questions clearly in English. Finally, the court noted that the tenant was settling a nuisance proceeding which appeared to be based on credible evidence, and she thereafter took advantage of the stipulation of settlement for four months. Therefore, the court held that the stipulation would stand. Link to Full Text of Decision
