Despite Judge Mintz’s departure from the mediator role, the parties continued to engage him for one more day. The landlords assert that subsequent discussions failed, culminating in the Getachews’ decision to return to court—a move that L&S and Rutkowski claim violates the agreed-upon arbitration process.
Legal Implications and Ongoing Disputes
The motion stresses that Judge Mintz was never mandated as the sole mediator under their agreement and that nothing within the mediation-arbitration deal permits the Getachews to revert to court proceedings simply because he opted out.
The landlord parties have requested the court only reopen the Getachews’ cases long enough to issue an order enforcing the continuation of mediation and arbitration, and for the Getachews to be held accountable for the legal expenses triggered by this motion.
This legal confrontation over the mansion lease has spanned several years, with additional related cases still pending in various court dockets. The Getachews have also initiated an abuse of process lawsuit at the federal level against their former landlords and attorney Eric Grayson, who they claim disseminated defamatory information to the New York Post.
