Long Island Man Continues Dodging Eviction After 20 Years

A man who hasn’t paid his mortgage in 20 years is still dodging eviction after 20 years.

Long Island resident Guramrit Hanspal, 52, hasn’t paid another mortgage payment towards his East Meadow home since he paid it for the first and last time in 1998. But ever since then, he’s been escaping his responsibility for decades now, according to Fox News.

The home was foreclosed and passed along to Diamond Ridge Partners, who now owns it. Hanspal was brought into court to officially kick him off and out of the property. However, during a Wednesday hearing, Judge William A. Hohauser agreed to delay the case because Hanspal’s attorney, William D. Friedman, asked for more time, saying his co-counsel was hired a day prior.

“This is the last of approximately 40 attorneys who have appeared on the eve of a hearing,” Diamond Ridge lawyer Jordan Katz told the judge, Fox News reports. “This is very typical of the defendant — he recycles lawyers to buy himself more time,” said Max Sold of Diamond Ridge. “This guy is basically mocking the courts.”

Later on, Friedman also declined to have Hanspal interviewed over the phone. When his attorney asked why the resident hadn’t paid his mortgage, he claimed it was Gov. Cuomo’s fault because of the March 2020 eviction moratorium. He said Cuomo made paying rent “a moral obligation.”

Katz argued that the COVID-19 protections that would put a stop to evictions should not apply to Hanspal. “We don’t believe the act was put in place to protect individuals like this,” he said.