This is a pretty screwy set of allegations.
Disney’s former CFO Lawrence Rutkowski claims in a housing court affidavit that Willkie Farr partner A. Mark Getachew is squatting in Rutkowski’s mansion. Housing court in Connecticut is different than your local housing court.
Apparently, Rutkowski rented a Connecticut mansion to Getachew, but now Getachew isn’t paying rent and with the pandemic eviction ban in place, Rutkowski has no recourse.
“It is clear that they have no intention of paying rent — now or in the future because they know Governor [Ned] Lamont keeps extending the ‘no-eviction’ moratorium.”
Running this through the affidavit-to-English translator, Rutkowski’s saying “it is clear that they seem to expect me to comply with state law even though it’s not convenient for me,” which is not the most compelling argument out there. Obviously the eviction moratorium is intended to help families who can’t make ends meet in this crisis and not, say, Biglaw partners, but that’s where the next wrinkle comes in.
Because according to court filings, Getachew isn’t stiffing Rutkowski on rent for the fun of it. Getachew actually brought the housing court case in the first place after discovering that Rutkowski’s house required a number of repairs that Rutkowski hasn’t reimbursed. Getachew claims to be withholding rent to cover the cost of the repairs.
But the Getachews claim that Rutkowski lied when he said the pool, hot tub and waterfall “were in good working condition,” with their complaint alleging that Rutkowski knew there were problems with the pool before signing the lease.
The Getachews say the pool, air conditioning system and other aspects of the house were plagued with problems that forced them to shell out their own money for repairs in just their first three months there.
It’s hard to get teary for someone whose complaint is a malfunctioning waterfall, but if you’re paying $11K/month, you have a right to expect things to work. Rutkowski claims everything could be fixed for about $3,000, yet Getachew racked up over $46,356.22 in repairs. The New York Post echoes the Rutkowski affidavit’s framing of this as a ridiculous sum, but if a high-end pool has broken pipes underground, it gets expensive pretty quickly. Even if it’s not $46K, it’s definitely more than $3,000. Hell, $3,000 won’t even pay for a new winter cover for a pool.
In any event, you never expected to see Biglaw, squatting, and Disney all in the same headline, but it’s 2020 and here we are.
Ex-Disney CFO claims couple squatting in his $2.2M Connecticut mansion [New York Post]
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.