NY’s Mayor Bloomberg Speaks Up About Self-Storage Lawsuits

By Sarah Mirando | July 17, 2013

Category: Legal News

By Jessica Tyner

New York storage unit lawsuit Self-storage lawsuits are heating up big time in the Big Apple — in fact, it’s even caught the eye of Mayor Bloomberg. He recently announced an agreement in the city’s inaugural lawsuit against self-storage companies that were being used to illegally keep and sell counterfeit items. In the summer of 2012, there were over 44,000 counterfeit CDs and DVDs worth over half a million dollars found in a Safeguard unit.

The City of New York filed a self-storage lawsuit against the company for the illegal storage, distribution and sale of pirated materials. In addition to the storage and sale lawsuit, a nuisance abatement civil enforcement action was filed to prevent future illegal activities from happening. Safeguard partnered with New York, since it was customers and not actually the company’s employees who were doing illegal activities on the premises. Safeguard has promised to report any suspicious behavior to the police and follow best practices.

Bloomberg’s Appeal

In an April 2013 press announcement, Mayor Bloomberg stated that New York is the home to numerous artists and pirating works makes consumers as well as artists into victims. It can lead to organized crime, and self-storage companies have to be diligent about keeping eyes open for illegal activity. Since then, Safeguard has become a cooperating partner with the police. It’s easy to turn a blind eye, but it’s also the responsibility of storage facilities to keep everyone on the property safe.

Some of the code of best practices Safeguard has agreed to includes keeping written records of all reports and supplying them to the city, prohibit counterfeit items on property, have the right to inspect units at all times, have walk-throughs at least once per day, and keep copies of photo IDs of all storage unit applicants. The sites must have video cameras to monitor activity and a recurring internal review process.

Storage Unit Woes

This is just one example of storage units “gone wild” in New York. Other incidents include storage unit owners seizing property without notice, shady contracts that allow companies to sell items in units, and otherwise taking advantage of customers.

Renting a storage unit should be taken as seriously as renting a condo. Storage unit complaints are serious business, and some people store irreplaceable items in their units.

Do You Have a Storage Unit Problem?

If you believe you were treated unfairly by a company, you might have a storage unit legal claim. Maybe your property was seized without notice, or it was sold at auction without being provided an itemized receipt.

Learn more by visiting the New York Mini Storage Property Seizure Class Action Lawsuit Investigation. After submitting your information, an attorney will contact you if you qualify for a free storage unit claim review.