Our landlord evicted my family of 5 and dumped our things in trash bags on street

A FAMILY took their landlord to court after being evicted from their home with their things thrown into trash bags on the street.

The Solis family had only planned to receive $2,500 for the emotional stress that came after their eviction in 2014 following the "demeaning, harassing, threatening, and unlawful conduct" by their former landlords.

Days before their eviction notice was put up, the family said their belongings were left on the street in garbage bags.

Before the eviction, Richard and Bellanira Solis lived in the Brooklyn, New York, basement apartment with their three children Concepcion, Octavio, and Richard Jr. - then ages 4, 14, and 15.

For three years, the family members were sub-tenants to the first-floor tenant and shared a kitchen and bathroom and while they weren't given a lease, the landlord gave them a letter dated August 16, 2011, confirming that they were tenants.

The landlords - Nora Aguilar, Francisco Aguilar, Jose Aguilar, and Vilma Luque - asked the first-floor tenant and the Solis family to leave the apartments so they could be renovated and given to a family member.

The family agreed to leave, however, they had issues finding a new place and could not vacate the apartment immediately.

According to the Solis family, their landlords allegedly tried to force them out by removing doors, knocking down walls, and turning off the gas and electricity.

They said that the physical eviction was taped to the family's door just three days into a 10-day notice.

Once their belongings were in the street, the family reached out to their neighbor, Paul Edelstein, an attorney from Edelsteins Fagenburg, and Brown.

Edelstein let the family stay at his apartment while they looked for a new place to live.

He also represented the family in their case against the landlords, however, Edelstein said that the family didn't want to take action at first due to their immigration status.

Unhappy with how the Solis' were treated, Edelstein wanted to get the family the $2,500 they wanted and spoke with the landlord's lawyers.

However, their discussion was fruitless after they claimed that the family had left voluntarily and refused to pay.

With Edelstein's help, the Solis family filed a lawsuit against their landlords in July 2014, claiming that their actions constituted a wrongful eviction.

The case was nearly thrown out before trial when the defense counsel argued that the Solis' were only sub-tenants and didn't have a legal basis to sue for wrongful eviction.

The family testified that as a result of the "extreme and outrageous conduct" of the landlords, they suffered emotional stress which turned into depression, anxiety, loss of sleep, and nightmares.

After a long appeal process, the family increased their damages claim to $25,000.

The defense counsel also tried - and failed - to have Edelstein disqualified from representing the family over a conflict of interest.

Both parties eventually agreed to a settlement of $250,000 to $275,000 after opening statements took place on January 6 of this year.

Richard Solis Jr. said he remembers the situation his parents went through and how they did their best to shield him and his siblings from it.

"We managed to just stay as stable as the situation could have allowed, we never broke down. We just made it as normal as we could," he told the Brooklyn Paper.

Richard Jr. added that the settlement amount was a shock to the whole family but that it was most "welcome after everything they're been through."

Edelstein said he took on the Solis family's case to right a wrong but said that the case "stands for something bigger now."

"You have two groups of people here, you have landlords, some not doing the right thing and getting away with it," he said.

"And then you have a lot of tenants many of whom are indigent, or don’t speak the language, or are not citizens, and they’re getting taken advantage of.

"They don’t realize what the laws are or that they have some protection, and that they can do something about it."