A New York judge just delivered a massive blow to NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plans to tax the rich.
Specifically, Staten Island Supreme Court Justice Wayne Ozzi blocked Mamdani from implementing his proposed tax on second homes — at least, for now.
Shortly after taking office, Mamdani promised to impose the pied-à-terre tax for multi-million dollar luxury properties.
But, it looks like this is yet another campaign promise that isn’t going to happen!
Nick Sortor shared more details on X:
🚨 BREAKING: A New York judge has BARRED Mamdani from enforcing his new property tax on secondary residences in the city while a homeowners’ lawsuit proceeds
Yet another “promise” made by Mamdani that’s falling through 🤣
Mamdani’s “pied-à-terre” tax was put on hold by Staten… pic.twitter.com/qjtTuAD6ch
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) August 10, 2026
BREAKING: A New York judge has BARRED Mamdani from enforcing his new property tax on secondary residences in the city while a homeowners’ lawsuit proceeds
Yet another “promise” made by Mamdani that’s falling through 🤣
Mamdani’s “pied-à-terre” tax was put on hold by Staten Island Judge Wayne Ozzi, who issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) following a hearing today.
Luckily, there are SOME good judges still out there!
This legal setback comes after Mayor Mamdani published a list of nearly one-million rich property owners’ names in a botched roll-out, effectively doxxing them.
In turn, this prompted homeowners to launch a lawsuit.
The New York Post explained:
City officials first published a database of more than 900,000 homeowners who could be hit by the tax after Mamdani put wealthy residents on notice to “check your mailbox when you’re back in the five boroughs, because you’ve got mail.”
The list confused many homeowners, especially the vast majority of properties seemed to be outside the tax’s scope of unoccupied, non-primary residences.
The city then sent out 17,000 notices to homeowners, warning them they’d actually be hit with the tax unless they filed for an exemption.
The mess prompted a trio of homeowners to sue, contending they either erroneously received notices for their longtime primary residences or were on the published tax roll.
The lawsuit filed Friday argued that Mamdani’s tax rollout “caused mass confusion,” because city officials ignored the plethora of state data that the new law specifically granted them to make a thorough assessment of who could be eligible.
Instead, city officials unfairly foisted that burden onto longtime New Yorkers, many of whom scrambled to prove their bona-fides by an initially-set one-month deadline, the suit said.
Two of the suing homeowners — Rachel O’Brien and Carmine Morano, the wife and father of City Councilman Frank Morano — both are Staten Island residents and had their homes listed on the published tax roll.
The third litigious homeowner, Chelsea resident and self-declared Mamdani supporter Simon Hedley, received one of the 17,000 mailed notices, according to the filing.
Constitutional law attorney Jonathan Turley discussed the lawsuit in detail during this Fox News clip:
🇺🇸 Mamdani is getting sued over that 2nd-home tax.
He put out a public list of nearly 1M properties with owners’ names and addresses that might get hit, and now homeowners are in court saying the whole rollout was a mess that opens people up to targeting.
A judge will hear the…
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) August 10, 2026
Today’s ruling is a big win for the homeowners suing Mamdani.
However, it is temporary.
The ruling will remain in effect until the end of the month, when another hearing on the matter is scheduled.
Fox News reported further:
A New York judge slammed the brakes Monday on Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s controversial rollout of a new tax on luxury second homes, ordering City Hall to take down a controversial list exposing the names, addresses and property values of more than 900,000 New York City homeowners.
Judge Wayne Ozzi temporarily restrained the Mamdani administration from moving ahead based on the disputed property roll or mailed notices and barred the city from enforcing its looming deadlines against homeowners caught up in the rollout.
The signed order also prevents the city from imposing, assessing or collecting the surcharge against homeowners identified on the supplemental roll or sending a notice without first making the individualized determination and providing the notice required under state tax law.
The courtroom setback came after attorney Randy Mastro blasted the Mamdani administration over what he called a botched rollout of a surcharge targeting second homes valued at more than $5 million.
“The city screwed this up… got it wrong… stop the train and make them do it over,” Mastro told the court.
Mastro argued that the city was supposed to first determine whether properties actually qualified as non-primary residences before putting homeowners through the surcharge process.
Instead, he said, the administration published a supplemental property roll covering a vast number of properties and sent notices that left New Yorkers scrambling to prove their homes were their primary residences.
“The city is to bear the burden,” Mastro argued, accusing officials of failing to use available information to determine which properties actually qualified. “They didn’t do their homework.”
Mastro said the publication of property owners’ names, addresses and property values unleashed confusion and public backlash.
“This is ludicrous. It is not right,” he told the court, arguing that the disclosure effectively “doxx[ed]” homeowners.
Outside the courthouse, Mastro declared the ruling “a very good day for all New York City homeowners.”
What are your thoughts?
This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.
