New York AG Filed Lawsuit against Syracuse Landlord over Lead Safety Violations

JULY 17, 2023

In July 2023, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a complaint against Todd L. Hobbs, a landlord in Syracuse, and his companies for violating lead safety laws. The AG’s office found over 400 violations at 19 different properties since 2016, resulting in lead poisoning in at least 11 children. Hobbs failed to address the violations even after repeated citations. Lead contamination is especially harmful to children; there is no safe level of exposure. And lead poisoning disproportionately impacts children of color; the majority of Hobbs’ properties were rented out to low-income families of color. AG James’ lawsuit sought disgorgement of profits, penalties for failure to disclose the presence of lead to tenants, restitution for the families of affected children, and an injunctive order requiring Hobbs to address the contamination.

In March 2023, AG James announced that her office had reached an agreement with the landlord to resolve the violations. Under the agreement, the landlord will be required to pay $175,000, which will be used to fix outstanding lead violations at his properties and to fund payments that will be distributed to families whose children were lead poisoned at the properties. Additionally, the settlement agreement prohibits the landlord from selling any of the properties until the lead violations have been fixed.

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