Assemblyman Cymbrowitz Is Getting Sued By His Elderly Upstairs Neighbors

Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz’s neighbors are suing him in small-claims court because recent renovations to his Brighton Beach apartment filled their home with dust when they were recovering from serious cardiological tests, according to a report by the New York Post.

Anatoliy, 82, and Ninel Rubinovich, 80, live above Cymbrowitz and both had a serious cardiological exam at Mount Sinai Department of Cardiology on May 17, 2016, and urgently required rest, according to Anatoliy said in court documents.

“But when we opened the door of our Apt. 11 J, we were almost suffocated from the fog and dust which filled up our apartment,” said Anatoliy. “All our furniture, books and kitchen dishes and utensils, all our clothes, all our belongings were covered with the thick layers of dust.”

He says the dust came as a result of demolition happening in the apartment below him, and Cymbrowitz’s and his contracted workers’ “negligence” in not closing the exhaust ducts.

The couple claim in court that Cymbrowtiz refused to reimburse them for the $425 they had to pay to a cleaning crew to make the apartment breathable again.

Cymbrowitz shifted the responsibility to the building’s management company, saying the superintendent and the management company checked the apartment and the vents before the demolition, and gave the approval for the work to begin.

The proper permits were acquired from the Department of Buildings, according to Cymbrowitz’s office.

“Upon hearing of the dust issue from management the assemblyman offered to have it cleaned or pay half the cost of the cleaning bill even though it was not his responsibility, which was rejected by the neighbor,” a Cymbrowitz spokesperson told the Post.

The couple also took the opportunity to attack Cymbrowitz’s political actions in a letter to the Post, in which they called him a do-nothing assemblyman. They claimed he used campaign funds for trips to Greece, Turkey Germany, and Spain.