Weinstein and Calvani v. Weinreb Management LLC, et al.

Complaint urging a New York City-based landlord to add the wife of lesbian tenant to rent-stabilized apartment lease in accordance with state and city law.

After marrying her partner of 37 years in Iowa in 2011, Dava Weinstein, 68, a licensed clinical social worker, provided a copy of her marriage certificate to Weinreb Management requesting to have her wife, Dorothy Calvani, 64, a geriatric nurse practitioner for an agency in East Harlem, added to the lease. In response to her request, Weinreb Management incorrectly told the couple that New York State does not recognize their marriage. Even after they sent their landlord proof of their rights and after Lambda Legal sent an advocacy letter on their behalf, Weinreb Management still refused to add Dorothy as a co-tenant to the lease of the Upper West Side apartment they have shared since 1977.

In October 2013, Lambda Legal filed a complaint in New York Supreme Court against Weinreb Management LLC, the management company, Jacob Weinreb, its managing partner, and Sabina Weinreb, the apartment owner, on behalf of Dava Weinstein and Dorothy Calvani asserting that their refusal to add Dava’s spouse, Dorothy, to her rent-stabilized lease is in direct violation of the New York Rent Stabilization Code and provisions of the New York State and City human rights laws. In direct response to the lawsuit, the Weinrebs added Calvani to the lease and settled this matter with Weinstein and Calvani for $20,000 on terms agreeable to all parties.