“This is part of a pattern,” Allen concludes. “Across hundreds of cases, this program has misidentified properties as distressed—properties overwhelmingly belonging to Black and Brown New Yorkers who are working-class, elderly, disabled, or some combination of the above. In many such cases, the properties cannot be returned because they were immediately sold by the new owners, and the original owners lack the resources to pursue the matter in the courts. To prevent something similar from happening in her case, Ms. Thomason has requested this hearing to vacate the default judgment in the
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