{"id":275627,"date":"2026-06-23T20:01:58","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T20:01:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/275627\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T20:01:58","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T20:01:58","slug":"2-kids-bitten-injured-by-mice-in-nycha-apartment-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/275627\/","title":{"rendered":"2 kids bitten, injured by mice in NYCHA apartment: lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

A mouse is never welcome in this house.<\/p>\n

A Manhattan mother is suing the New York City Housing Authority<\/a> after her two young children were bitten by mice inside their Lower East Side apartment, according to an eleventh-hour lawsuit filed this week in Manhattan Supreme Court \u2014 just before the statute of limitations ran out.<\/p>\n

Doris Montalvo claims in the suit that NYCHA<\/a> had been put on notice about a rodent infestation at 38 Rutgers St. but refused to act, leaving her family trapped in what the complaint describes as a \u201cdangerous, unsafe, uninhabitable condition,\u201d The Post has learned.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both children, identified in court papers only by their initials JM and SM, suffered injuries when mice attacked them inside the apartment on March 23, 2025.<\/p>\n

A Manhattan mother is suing NYCHA after her two young children were bitten by mice inside their Lower East Side apartment on March 23, 2025, according to a lawsuit filed June 19 in Manhattan Supreme Court. J.C. Rice for NY Post<\/p>\n

Doris Montalvo, suing on behalf of her two minor children identified only as JM and SM, claims NYCHA was notified of a rodent infestation at 38 Rutgers St., but failed to exterminate it or maintain the unit in a safe and habitable condition, leaving the family in what the complaint calls a \u201cdangerous, unsafe, uninhabitable condition.\u201d J.C. Rice for NY Post<\/p>\n

The filing accuses the housing authority of gross negligence<\/a> for permitting rodents and vermin to remain on the premises \u201cfor an unreasonable length of time\u201d after being notified of the problem.\u00a0<\/p>\n

NYCHA, which owns, operates and manages the Rutgers Street property, had a duty to keep the unit \u201cin a safe, proper and habitable condition, free of rodents,\u201d the complaint states, particularly the bedroom area where the children were sleeping.<\/p>\n

The suit alleges NYCHA and its agents \u201cnegligently and carelessly maintained their premises and failed to correct the rodent and vermin infestation,\u201d even after having actual and constructive notice of the hazardous conditions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both children were permanently injured as a result of the attacks, the suit alleges, and Montalvo is also suing individually, claiming she was deprived of the services and companionship of her injured children. Chanawat \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

A rodent trap seen outside the NYCHA complex. J.C. Rice for NY Post<\/p>\n

The housing authority<\/a> is further accused of failing to warn tenants about the dangers lurking inside the building and of inviting residents to live there without first making the premises safe.<\/p>\n

As a result of the bites, the suit alleges the children suffered \u201cpermanent\u201d injuries and were rendered unable to carry out their normal daily activities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe plaintiffs were rendered sick, sore, lame, suffered great pain, shock, and anguish, both internally and externally, and has, upon information and belief, been permanently injured,\u201d the complaint states.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Montalvo is also suing in her own right, arguing she was \u201cdeprived of the services, society and companionship\u201d of her children as a direct result of NYCHA\u2019s negligence. The family also incurred hospital and medical expenses tied to the attacks, according to the suit.<\/p>\n

Montalvo first put NYCHA on formal notice by filing a notice of claim against the agency within 90 days of the March 2025 incident, as required by law for suits against municipal bodies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A rat trap is seen on the premises. J.C. Rice for NY Post<\/p>\n

The family is seeking damages exceeding the jurisdictional limits of all lower courts. J.C. Rice for NY Post<\/p>\n

After more than 30 days passed with no resolution or payment from the authority, the family moved forward with the lawsuit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Claims against NYCHA carry a statute of limitations of one year and 90 days, a deadline that fell around June 21 of this year. The complaint was filed June 19, just two days before that window closed.<\/p>\n

The suit seeks damages exceeding the jurisdictional limits of all lower courts.<\/p>\n

When asked for comment, NYCHA told The Post it does \u201cnot comment on pending litigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawyers for Montalvo did not respond to The Post\u2019s request for comment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A mouse is never welcome in this house. A Manhattan mother is suing the New York City Housing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[6722,4207,7624,68,3100,75,84,83,4327,106023,10097,36099,9,24,63,305,307,6389,1491,3006,34595],"class_list":["post-275627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-apartments","tag-children","tag-east-village","tag-exclusive","tag-lawsuit","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-manhattan-supreme-court","tag-modest-mouse","tag-mom","tag-motherhood","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-nycha","tag-public-housing","tag-rats","tag-real-estate","tag-residential-real-estate","tag-rodents"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}