I am being counter sued by a landlord as a result of filing a claim to get my security deposit back. Information I have received from previous tenants leads me to believe this landlord has a pattern of countersuing tenants who have done this in the past many times. Is there a way I can access how many times this particular landlord has had claims filed against him in small claims courts, if he has always countersued, and what the outcomes were? This is in the City of Buffalo, NY.

Court records are generally public information. But you will probably have to go to the court clerk to get the info.

In MD Summaries can be searched online, from the Maryland Judiciary website. You might want to see if NY has something similar. A Summary will provide outlines of case histories, while transcripts give more specific details. Generally what you want to know, can be found in a summary outline. Since MD has this service available, I would imagine other states do as well, but only you can find that out for sure. If you can't find the website, if there is one, the county courthouse clerk can probably direct you.

Hello kt:

Although it might be interesting information, you won't be able to bring it up in court. How many times he's been sued, done the suing, or for that matter, how many times he's been convicted of murder, is irrelevant to your lawsuit, and the judge won't let it in.

excon

I was thinking the same thing as excon after I responded. The thing is, if this is small claims or housing court, the rules may be more relaxed and a judge MAY listen.

But if you have no proof to deny his counterclaim, that won't matter. The key to your winning is to prove your claim and disprove his.

I got the impression that the OP wanted the information to verify what was said by the previous tenants, and to see if the landlord was usually successful with these countersuits when they did occur. Might not be of help in the OP's actual hearing, but at least they know what they might be dealing with. Knowing what to expect from this landlord, might help OP to better prepare their own case in winning their claim.

I am considering sueing my landlord due to exposure to mold, and failure to address the faulty plumbing issue that created the mold problem. I did indeed search MD court records, under the 3 different names used by them, to see if they had any history. It won't help my case, but it shows what I'm up against. Currently, there are 3 torts and 1 personal injury case active, and several closed cases. Some of the closed ones resulted in some pretty hefty judgments for the Plaintifs.

I also noted that my landlord was sued for breach of contract by a number of different providers of services, which they mostly won as the Defendants. Mostly housekeeping, landscaping & grounds upkeep, maintenance services, trash removal and snow removal. These change constantly, as many are hired based on bid submissions, and others replaced due to inadequate service provisions. I figured that the ones who lost the contract were disgruntled, and sued landlord claiming contract was not fulfilled.

Interesting? Yes, the tort/personal injury cases for sure. Relevant to my case, not necessarily. But knowing the kinds of things they have been sued for, and the history of the law firm they retain (as you can look up cases represented by that law firm's attorneys) can be reasuring when considering filing a claim against them. If OP should find that landlord has a history of countersueing, but is rarely successful in winning these cases, it can ease their mind regarding the former tenants allegations. Knowing that landlord has been more successful than not, in winning the counterclaims, would let OP know that they need to be sure they have a strong case in proving their claim, while disproving the landlords'.

As they say, knowledge is power. Use it to your advantage when you can.