Judge dismisses woman's bid to save her Hicksville home from demolition

A federal judge last week dismissed a lawsuit filed against the Town of Oyster Bay that alleged a Hicksville homeowner had been denied her right to due process by the town’s efforts to demolish her house.

Doina Almazon, 58, has been fighting to save her home on Grape Lane for more than a decade, battling lender JPMorgan Chase and now the Town of Oyster Bay. The town sued Almazon in state court in April 2021 to declare the house a nuisance and allow the town to demolish it. 

Gary R. Brown, a judge in Central Islip's Eastern District federal court, in a May 25 telephone conference with Almazon and lawyers for Oyster Bay and JPMorgan Chase, said he didn’t have jurisdiction in the case. 

Almazon is representing herself.

“These are courts of law, not courts of justice,” Brown said on the conference call. “I feel terrible for your situation but legally I’m not permitted to do anything here.”

Brown suggested that Almazon file a federal appeal or focus on cases filed in state court which she lost but has appealed.

Almazon said the town's approach was too extreme. She said the house is “structurally sound. There’s no need to demolish it.”

Oyster Bay’s outside legal counsel Andrew Preston, of Mineola-based Bee Ready Fishbein Hatter & Donovan LLP, said the house is an “eyesore” and has rodents. 

Brown asked Preston if the building was structurally unsound.

“The argument was never that it was structurally unsound. It was that it was vacant, abandoned and dangerous,” Preston said.

Last year the town sued Almazon in state court seeking to declare the house a nuisance and to demolish it if she did not make repairs. State Supreme Court judge Randy Sue Marber ruled in favor of the town in December. 

The ownership of the property remains in limbo. Almazon told Brown she has “moved around” since Superstorm Sandy.

In 2010, Almazon sought a loan modification due to financial hardship and was forced to move out in 2012 after the house was damaged by Sandy, according to court filings. Almazon claimed in court filings that the bank acted improperly when it initiated foreclosure proceedings in 2013. She lost that case but has appealed with the help of a pro bono attorney. 

The house has been 65% to 75% repaired, she said in the federal court papers, but she alleged the repairs couldn’t be completed unless JPMorgan Chase releases insurance money related to Sandy. Robert Pollock, an attorney for JPMorgan Chase from the New Jersey office of Parker Ibrahim & Berg LLP, told Brown that some of the insurance money had already been released but the remainder won’t be released until 90% of the repairs have been completed. 

Brown told Almazon he was sympathetic to her and dismissed the case without prejudice, meaning she can refile it. 

Almazon said Tuesday she was still in talks with Oyster Bay and JPMorgan Chase.