Windmill Tenants’ Suit Dismissed

A State Supreme Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit against East Hampton Town, its office of housing and community development, and the East Hampton Housing Authority over a mold infestation at the Windmill Village affordable housing complex for senior citizens on Accabonac Road in East Hampton.

Four residents of Windmill, which is owned by an autonomous housing development fund, sued their landlord, claiming mold problems had caused health and other problems, and had not been adequately addressed.

They also named the housing authority, a separate, non-municipal agency that operates other affordable housing complexes in East Hampton, and the town and its housing office.

Judge Joseph C. Pastoressa said in an October ruling that the plaintiffs had failed to follow required legal procedures in making their claim against the three outside agencies.

Tom Ruhle, East Hampton’s director of housing and community development, said this week that as administrator of federal Housing and Urban Development rent subsidy funds, the town does deal with some tenants of the Windmill complex. In extreme circumstances where issues of habitability and the like arise, the town could legally withhold the rent payments until a situation is resolved.

In the Windmill mold matter, Mr. Ruhle said his office had consulted with Windmill managers and kept abreast of their mold remediation efforts, finding them acceptable.

In any event, he said, and though the town was dismissed as a defendant in the tenants’ lawsuit on a technicality, lease agreements and other legal criteria preclude the town from being drawn in as a third party to such a lawsuit.

Frank Pellegrini of Pellegrini and Associates, a Manhattan lawyer representing the tenants, said Monday that the tenants’ lawsuit against Windmill is continuing.