Effective December of 2021, all residential evictions filed in the Town and Village Courts of Erie County are transferred to Buffalo HUB Court. What this means for practical purposes is that all residential evictions in Erie County now wind up being heard in Buffalo City Court.
Navigating the HUB Court process can be confusing for Landlords and Tenants alike.
Firstly, despite all Erie County residential evictions winding up in Buffalo City Court, all Court paperwork (such as Notice and Petition) must be filed in the local Court where the subject premises (the property at issue in the eviction) is situate (e.g. Cheektowaga Justice Court or Amherst Justice Court). Furthermore, the Notice and Petition that are served upon the target tenant(s) shows a summons date for the parties to appear in that local Court. Neither party is obligated (or even expected) to appear at the local Court, and the file is transferred to Buffalo City Court irrespective of any appearance or non-appearance by either of the parties.
Soon after the superfluous Court date in the local Court, both the Landlord (and/or their attorney) and the Tenant receive mailed correspondence indicating a date and time for a “virtual appearance” in Buffalo City Court. These conferences are held via Microsoft Teams and/or telephone.
If the Landlord (or their attorney) or Tenant do not appear at the virtual case conference, a default Warrant of Eviction or dismissal of the case may be granted by the Court (depending on which one doesn’t show up).
If both parties appear at the virtual case conference, the likely result is a two-to-three-week adjournment of the case for the purpose of linking the Tenant up with a “free” attorney. The case will then be scheduled for a second virtual conference to see if the Tenant’s free attorney and the landlord (or their attorney) can reach a settlement agreement. If the Tenant shows up to Court, an adjournment is “automatic” and will be granted over any objection by the Landlord or their attorney.
If no settlement is reached at the second virtual case conference, the matter is usually set down for “in person” hearing/trial at Buffalo City Court which is located at 50 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo NY 14202. Most Erie County HUB trial are conducted before Hon. Phillip M. Dabney, Jr. on the 6th Floor of Buffalo City Court.
At this point, the trial is handled like any other eviction trial in Buffalo City Court.
Landlords can become very frustrated by the seemingly endless string of Court dates that carry very few substantial results towards the case being resolved or an eviction being granted. As stated above, the “first” Court date in the local Justice Court (e.g. Cheektowaga or Amherst) has no consequence whatsoever as the case is transferred to Buffalo HUB irrespective of whether the Tenant even shows up to Court. The first virtual appearance in Buffalo HUB Court only matters if the Tenant doesn’t show up (and therefore a Warrant of Eviction is granted). If the Tenant does show up, they get a free lawyer and a free adjournment. It is not until the second virtual appearance in Buffalo HUB that there is even a chance of settling the case (which happens about half the time). Even when the case is scheduled for “in-person” trial at Buffalo City Court, there is still a chance the Judge may adjourn the case for a myriad of reasons (usually none of which are attributable to the Landlord). In short, the whole thing can seem rather crazy to Landlords. Nonetheless, we must accept the rules of the game as they exist or we will likely have our case dismissed.