The occupants of a house off of Route 123 are fighting an attempt to evict them, saying they’re protected by a statewide moratorium on evictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The owner of 983 New Norwalk Road, Jingjing Ma, on June 2 filed eviction papers in state Superior Court, according to Connecticut Judicial Branch records.
In a complaint filed on Ma’s behalf by attorney Donna Lattarulo of Norwalk-based Lattarulo Law Firm LLC, the plaintiff listed seven defendants, including Brian and Laura Stein, saying she has no lease agreement with them and intends to live in the 3,700-square-foot Colonial.
The 2.05-acre property straddles the New Canaan-Norwalk line near Exit 38 of the Merritt Parkway.
Tax records show that Ma purchased the property April 26 from Wilmington Trust Company. Brian Stein is listed in New Canaan tax records as a past owner of the home.
In filing his own answer to the complaint July 6, Stein denied that Ma owns the property and that she intends to live there. In listing his special defenses, Stein cited an order from Gov. Ned Lamont that imposed a moratorium on evictions in Connecticut through June 30, saying that Ma’s action was illegal because it was filed during the moratorium. In another special defense, Stein said that Ma does not qualify for an exemption to the moratorium because she “does not actually have a bona fide intention to occupy the subject residential premises” as her primary residence.
“Indeed, based upon information and provided directly by the purported Plaintiff to Defendant Brian M. Stein and the New Canaan Police Department, after an incident occurred at the subject residential premises where the purported Plaintiff attempted to harass and intimidate the Defendants into vacating the subject premises, the purported Plaintiff is not in-fact the owner or an owner of the subject premises, but rather is a real estate agent,” Stein said in the answer.
Lattarulo denied each of Stein’s special defenses in a July 7 reply.
A remote court trial is scheduled to proceed Aug. 17, according to Connecticut Judicial Branch records.
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