James D. Murtha

James D. Murtha

4.0
Rating: 6.9

Licensed for 18 years

Landlord or tenant Lawyer at Massapequa Park, NY
Practice Areas: Landlord & Tenant, Debt Settlement

4940 Merrick Road, No. 102, Massapequa Park, NY

About James

Biography

Practice Areas

2

Practice Areas

Landlord or Tenant 75%

I represent landlords and tenants in eviction proceedings in Nassau County and Suffolk County.

18 years

75%
Debt Settlement 25%

I represent consumers in defense of debt-collection lawsuits brought by creditors seeking to collect debts.

18 years

25%

Fees and Rates

We have not found any cost information for this lawyer


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Licenses

Licensed in New York for 18 years

State: New York

Acquired: 2008

Currently Registered

No misconduct found

Location

Murtha Law Firm, LLC

4940 Merrick Road, No. 102, Massapequa Park, NY, 11762-3803

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James D. Murtha's Reviews

Avvo Review Score

4.0 /5.0

29 Client Reviews

Filter Avvo Reviews (29) Refine reviews to match your needs. Use the filters to quickly surface reviews that align with your case or priorities.

Showing 1 - 5 of 7 reviews | Practice Area Knowledge

Posted by Corey | August 29, 2024 | Hired Attorney | Landlord & Tenant

Did not pay attention to my requests. When he knew he was wrong he just blamed me.

James was retained over the phone. My wife and I thought he sounded legit. Off the bat he did everything he was supposed to do. After 2 months a court date should have been given (even sooner really). James assured me everything was going as it was supposed to. Meanwhile my real estate agent was tell...ing me you should have a court date if he filed. James assured me he filed. I asked over and over why do we not have a court date. Everything is fine he would assure us. I sent the paperwork in he said over and over. If you did, why do we not have a court date. James said it takes time. Well after numerous texts and phone calls I decided to go to the courthouse myself. Thank goodness I did that because they did not get the paperwork which he assured me they did. I was livid called him and left nasty messages because he had wasted 2 months of time that could have pushed out a tenant that was squatting. He finally calls me back and says he will personally go to the courthouse and make sure everything is as it should be. Finally, he did something he did go to the court the next day. He then sent an email letting me know there will be a court day soon and he will let me know as soon as that date is in the books. That was a blatant lie, the court date was immediate as soon as he filed the court date was there. I know this because we checked the website of the court. He took 2 weeks to let us know when the court date was even though the date was already given from the moment he went to the court and filed. He threatened me about going to the courthouse myself that he would no longer be my lawyer if I went back or even called them. He claimed that I misbehaved at the courthouse, which was an absurd lie . The ladies all said he was wrong and if he had filed the court date would have been given immediately. I am sure James has done some cases correctly, but I would never trust this man again. He should have offered us money back but instead insisted he was in the right the whole way. It was disgusting. I was selling the house too much trouble renting towards the end. We waited 3 months before we started actively trying to sell the house because he has on his website takes 3 months to get them out. Fortunately, we got a buyer immediately. When explaining this to James he said, "it was a bad idea to schedule the sale of the house until the eviction is completed and the tenants are removed." If he had done his job, we would have had the tenant out with plenty of time before closing. He knew that if the papers were filed at the court, you immediately get a date. He just kept telling me everything is as it should be, and I bought that for 2 months. To this day I do not understand why he was blatantly lying to me about a court date. If he did not know that when you file you immediately get a court date, he is one lawsy lawyer. If you could see the emails and how he tried to turn this on me and that I was an impatient person, oh he was so unprofessional. The last thing that he did that was incredibly unprofessional was he said to go to court early to find him on the court date. He did not show up. He sent another lawyer in his stead. She was nice and professional, but we had no idea he was not going so we spent the morning looking for him . He did not call to tell us he was not going he did not pick up his phone when we called him! She said we did not even have to be there in complete contradiction of what James told us. I would say use this untrustworthy lawyer James Murphy at your peril.

Posted by Marianne | August 29, 2024 | Hired Attorney | Landlord & Tenant

Excellent choice for a lawyer

James is the best. He answered all my questions and made me feel at ease. I had a good feeling from the start because he knew things about evictions that the other lawyers I called couldn't tell me. He served my tenants right away. He was there with me in court and I got a warrant for the sheriff to ...remove my tenants and a judgment for the all the money they owe me. I recommend James highly.

Posted by Winifred Grant | June 25, 2024 | Hired Attorney | Landlord & Tenant

Outstanding!

Thank you James you are awesome. You solved all my issues with my tenants in a timely fashion! I highly recommend you. You are the best!

Posted by anonymous | February 27, 2023 | Hired Attorney | Landlord & Tenant

CAUTION. CAUTION. CAUTION

If you're going to retain this lawyer be very careful After the 90 days notice to evict He said he was going to file with the "for court date So I decided to call the court to see how long it would take For them to Get the ball rowing I was surprised to find out he never filed any paperwork this is 2... months after the notice to event expired And when I called He said he was going to charge me $450 an hour because my questions were not part of the retainer So I'm Going to file a grievance with the bar association This review Is A personal Experience I've encountered With this attorney To me he seems like a tenant attorney more than a landlord attorney Good luck people there are better attorneys out there believe me with the bar association on this character

James Murtha

Replied last April 11, 2023

I do not know who this person is since the review is posted anonymously and is totally inconsistent with the way I diligently represent all my clients. I have never had a client say something like that, so I checked all my files and there are no such complaints. I also do not charge my clients an hourly rate of any sort. I offer a flat fee for evictions and I stand by it. If the person who posted this review is truly a client, I invite him or her to call me to see if we can figure out what the issue is and resolve any issues. But I suspect this may not be a legitimate review. In any event, all I can say is to the best of my ability to figure out why someone would post something like that, I have no idea who this is.

Posted by Kevin | December 06, 2020 | Landlord & Tenant

I recommend this lawyer

I called Mr. Murtha for a free consultation. I thought I would need a lawyer and it would be expensive because that's what 2 other lawyers told me. They said I needed to hire them to do an eviction. But Mr. Murtha explained that an eviction wasn't necessary and I didn't need a lawyer at all. He solve...d my problems by explaining that I didn't have any! And he didn't charge me for the consultation. If I ever do need a lawyer, I know who to go to: James Murtha.

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James D. Murtha's Lawyer Endorsements

Endorse James
Michelle Murtha headshot
Michelle Murtha

Landlord or tenant lawyer | Mar 23

Relationship: Worked together on matter

"I endorse James D. Murtha. He is the most knowledgeable landlord-tenant and consumer rights attorney I have ever met or had the opportunity to work with. His skills and expertise in both the fields of landlord-tenant law, particularly as it applies to evictions, and debt-collection defense are unmatched in my opinion. James D. Murtha has my highest recommendation as an expert in landlord-tenant matters and in debt-collection defense."

View All Endorsements
Michelle Murtha headshot
Michelle Murtha

Copyright infringement lawyer

Experience

Rating:  6.9 (Good)

Honors

2016

Clients' Choice Award, Avvo

2015

Clients' Choice Award, Avvo

Work Experience

2014 - Present

Managing Member, Murtha Law Firm, LLC

2008 - 2014

Member, Murtha & Murtha, PLLC

Associations

New York State Bar Association

Member

Nassau County Bar Association

Member

Thomas More Law Center

Member

Federalist Society

Member

Sample of Legal Cases

Estate of James Bruncaj v Bruncaj, Suffolk Dist Ct, Feb. 29, 2012, Flanagan, J., index No. LT-000630-12/BR

My client, the respondent, prevailed. Petition dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.

Town of Babylon v Licata, Suffolk Dist Ct, Feb. 24, 2012, Morris, J., docket No. BATO-750/11

My client, the defendant, prevailed. After a trial, the case was dismissed.

Olcese v Bilotta, Suffolk Dist Ct, Sept. 21, 2011, Ukeiley, J., index No. LT-002771-11/BR

My client, the petitioner, prevailed. Money judgment, judgment of possession and warrant of eviction granted.

Matter of Colaiacovo v Dormer, Sup Ct, Suffolk County, Oct. 30, 2008, Weber, J., index No. 020230/2008

My client, the petitioner, prevailed. Matter was remanded to the respondent, who was ordered to take certain action.

See More Legal Cases

Education

2003

Hofstra University School of Law

JD - Juris Doctor

1998

State University of New York, Stony Brook

BA - Bachelor of Arts

Speaking Engagements

2008

Debtor-Creditor Law and Consumers' Rights

Consumer Debt Issues in Suffolk County

Publications

2009

Pamphlet Understanding Special Proceedings Under Article 78 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules

Languages

English

Italian

Activity

Avvo Rating

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  • Experience & background Years licensed, work experience, education
  • Legal community recognition Peer endorsements, associations, awards
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