Elderly immigrants from the USSR sued a New York state parliamentarian for dusty apartment renovations

An elderly couple of immigrants from the USSR, living in New York on Brighton Beach at 1311 Brightwater Avenue, sued state legislator Steve Simbrowitz for not exactly neighborly behavior.

As The New York Post reports, citing materials from the court case, Anatoly and Ninel Rubinovich (82 years old and 80 years old, respectively) returned home from the hospital on May 17, 2016 after a serious cardiological examination and “almost suffocated from the fog and dust that filled the apartment.” .

“All our furniture, books, kitchenware and utensils, all our clothes, all our belongings were covered in a thick layer of dust. This was the result of the demolition in apartment 10J, where workers under contract to Simbrowitz, the owner of this apartment, negligently failed to close hood," the statement of claim says.

The couple said they were forced to hire a cleaning crew for $425. In the court case, they claim that Simbrowitz, who lives on the floor below, is a cheapskate who "refuses to pay compensation," the InoPressa article quotes.

For his part, Simbrowitz places the blame on the building's administration. Simbrowitz's staff told the publication that the administration checked the apartment and ventilation before demolition and allowed work to begin.

“Having learned from the administration about the problem, the member of the legislative assembly volunteered, although the fault lay not with him, to organize the cleaning or pay half the cost of the cleaning, but the neighbor rejected this offer,” representatives of the parliamentarian said.