Martin C Latinsky

Someone referred me to Martin Latinsky when I needed a NJ-licensed lawyer to help with some landlord/tenant issue. It never crossed my mind to check his background, because I thought my case was pretty simple. In the end he caused me even more trouble and money. I rented an apt in WNY, NJ which had... severe leaking problems, which the RE agent didn't disclose. I reported the problem to the Town's Health Dept. After the apt was inspected, the landlord was instructed to fix it. After waiting several months without a solution I decided to withhold the rent in November, 3 months before the end of my lease. I first spoke to him in early November 2015. In our first conversation he asked me to mail him the checks, in case we end up in court. I thought this was normal procedure. He exchanged a few emails with the landlord's attorney, but took no active steps to resolving the case. I was naturally concerned as December came around and there was no progress. I would email him, and then sent a text when I didn't hear back after a week. Once I waited two weeks and still no reply. I asked him to tell me directly whether he could still help me, because otherwise I needed to make other arrangements in a limited amount of time. He sent a text back whining like an angry spoiled child: "I'm with my children, I haven't seen them in a week; or I'm driving to some city to pick up my daughter." Two weeks before my lease ended on 1/31/16 he called to say that the other side was pulling the "sharp knife" and to go ahead and send him the final check. I took that to mean that we might end up in court. He cashed all three totaling $4500. Shortly after he said the landlord's broker called him to discuss a settlement, but he wasn't really supposed to talk him behind their lawyer's back. (We were asking for a retroactive rent abatement starting in April 2015 when the problem first appeared during my tenancy.) He then proceeded to say 'you don't have to move, according to a NJ law and that it might even be a good thing, if you stayed." Thinking that was part of his strategy, I stayed. In the meantime the other lawyer sent him an email on 1/25/16 to say he was instructed to file two petitions against me; he never told me. On 1/31/16 I sent him a text to ask if I should be worried about being in the apt outside of a lease. He called back and we spoke for 23mns. He knew that I wasn't moving. He told me the broker said the landlord doesn't have money. Even though he supposedly represented me, he was really pleading in favor of the other party. He asked me what I wanted to do. I told him that I may stay until mid-March, since I was certain they wouldn't return my $2250 deposit. He said nothing. The next day Feb 1st he sent them an email saying I didn't have a place to go and needed the landlord's permission to stay until I sort out what to do. I replied to him to say that his email was not in my favor and that I'd stayed because I listened to his advice. His reply: I don't want you to stay in that place for one minute." , meanwhile we spoke at length the day and even weeks before and he advised me otherwise. The next shocker came when he refused to return the money, saying he'd release it to the landlord when I move or that he needed a court order to release it to me. I read the NJBA site and that was not the case. He's since returned the money to me. I've never needed or hired a lawyer before, but I know legal assistance can be pricey. I probably should have had an idea of his caliber when he asked for $500.