Judge Backs N.Y. Parents, Saying Their 30-Year-Old Son Must Move Out

[El]

The promise of adventure didn't do it. Neither did the lure of independence, or the weight of his 30 years. Instead, it took a judge to pry Michael Rotondo from his parents' home. The New York couple won an eviction order against their son after a judge argued with Rotondo for 30 minutes.

"I don't see why they can't just, you know, wait a little bit for me to leave the house," Rotondo told Donald Greenwood, a justice on the Onondaga County Supreme Court.


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"You say you're entitled to six months, which really seems to be kind of outrageous, that somebody in this day and age could be in somebody else's home with a six-month notice before they have to leave," Greenwood said. "I mean, that creates all kind of problems in the era of Airbnb."

Christina and Mark Rotondo resorted to legal action after a series of notes to their son (starting on Feb. 2) failed to get him to move out of their home in Camillus, N.Y., a town west of Syracuse. Those notes followed discussions that began last October.

The notes to Michael Rotondo ranged from orders to leave and encouragement to get a job, to offers of more than $1,000 and help in finding a place. One also includes a list of things to do, from organizing his move to a suggestion to sell things.

"This is especially true for any weapons you may have," the note reads, according to Syracuse.com. "You need the money and will have no place for the stuff."

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The notes escalated into a formally worded notice for Rotondo to leave that set a 30-day deadline — which lapsed on March 15. Another message urged him to either fix his car, a Volkswagen Passat, or take it down off of the "ramps" that it was on at the Rotondos' house.

In a legal filing cited by CNYCentral, Rotondo said that in the eight years he has lived at his parents' house, he "has never been expected to contribute to household expenses, or assisted with chores and the maintenance of the premises," and that those conditions are simply part of an informal agreement.

When he was in his early 20s, Rotondo briefly lived on his own, but he moved back in with his parents after losing a job. On Tuesday, he said he accepted $1,100 from his parents earlier this year — but the money went toward "expenses" rather than toward moving out.

Representing himself in court, Rotondo showed a knack for argument — and for the legal and media environment in which he found himself, as multiple news crews covered the story of his attempt to block his parents from prying him from their home. At one point, he referred to them as "the petitioner."

As Rotondo spoke, his parents sat across the courtroom, behind their attorney. Citing a precedent that applies to family members, he argued that he was owed a six-month grace period "to basically procure the means so they can support themselves on their own."

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When Greenwood tried to compliment Rotondo on his work researching other cases, Rotondo dismissed it.

"It wasn't hard," he said, adding that he had done "a brief search of the Internet for the removal of a family member from a home. ... it took minutes."

Greenwood then informed Rotondo that the case he cited wasn't the final word on the matter, and that it had been superseded by an appellate court ruling that tilted the weight of precedent back toward the parents' side.

In interviews with the media, Rotondo has said the rift with his parents, who cut off his cellphone and refused to give him food, is rooted in an ongoing dispute over his young son.

The case is being seen as an extreme example of a growing trend. As NPR reported in 2016, a Pew study found that, "For the first time in more than 130 years, Americans ages 18-34 are more likely to live with their parents than in any other living situation."

In headlines, Rotondo is often labeled as a deadbeat or layabout; his status as a millennial is also often mentioned. But he says it's not that simple.

Citing a conversation with Rotondo as he rode the bus home from the courthouse on Tuesday, The New York Post reports that he claims that "his parents are forcing him out as 'retaliation' for not allowing them to see his child before he lost custody himself last September."

Rotondo also says he's locked in a custody battle with his son's mother — and that his parents' demands for him to find a steady paycheck threatened his ability to waive court fees, according to The Daily Mail. He says he became a father during the brief time when he lived on his own.

The Post and Daily Mail also note that Rotondo has another legal case running: He's suing Best Buy, claiming that he was wrongly fired for refusing to work on Saturdays.

In the eviction case, the judge told Rotondo that his parents, as the owners of the house, have the right to decide who lives there.

When Rotondo spoke to the media outside the courtroom, he was asked where he would be going to live.

"Honestly, I'm not sure exactly how it ended. I mean, it seems to me like I should be provided with like 30 days or so, because generally you get 30 days ... to vacate the premises," Rotondo said. "So I'm expecting something like that."

As he spoke, Rotondo flipped his long hair behind his head and worked it up into a ponytail. A reporter told him that it sounded like he had "to vacate today."

"It sounded kind of like that [to me], too," Rotondo said. "But that's just so ridiculous."

Another reporter asked Rotondo if he has a Web business. He said he did — but he refused to say what it entails. "I'm not dragging my business into my business," he said with a smile.

Rotondo said he will review his options to appeal, adding that he might seek a stay of the eviction order.

"The notion that, you know, that I'm just out of there, it really seems most unreasonable," he said.

Apparently he's also saying he isn't a millennial because he's conservative.

He's probably kind of bananas but he also just plain sounds like an entitled piece of garbage.

Is he on wrongplanet yet?

[Yuri Bezmenov]

What is this doing in political pundits?

Shouldn't this be in the Ginseng forum??

[El]

What is this doing in political pundits?

Shouldn't this be in the Ginseng forum??

Have you decided to try and have a problem with literally everything I post in this forum?

[Icequeen]

Kind of sad that it had to come to all that.

 

[Yuri Bezmenov]

What is this doing in political pundits?

Shouldn't this be in the Ginseng forum??

Have you decided to try and have a problem with literally everything I post in this forum?

Why yes, yes. Because I'm a misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, racist, anti-Semitic neo-Nazi, (you do look a little Jewish), white privilege having, fedora wearing shitlord. Therefore it is literally my job to have a problem with every dot and tittle you post. I would be delinquent in my responsibilities to not do so.   

[Yuri Bezmenov]

Kind of sad that it had to come to all that.

 

Come join the Dark Side Icequeen, we have cookies.   

[mdagli1]

I bet you must be missing me instead of this twat. It's not like pisshead is going to actually do anything. Must enjoy being mad all the time at nothing.

[Gopher Gary]

Kind of sad that it had to come to all that.

 

I don't feel sorry for them because they let him completely mooch off them for years. I think there's maybe more to this. In another article he says he doesn't work because he's been too focused on being a parent, even though he recently lost his visitation rights. He says his parents are kicking him out in retaliation to losing his visitation. It sounds like he might have got into trouble, and maybe his parents want him out of the house now so they can legally spend time with their grandchild and this doesn't have anything to do with how they've been living all these years. 

[El]

Kind of sad that it had to come to all that.

 

I don't feel sorry for them because they let him completely mooch off them for years. I think there's maybe more to this. In another article he says he doesn't work because he's been too focused on being a parent, even though he recently lost his visitation rights. He says his parents are kicking him out in retaliation to losing his visitation. It sounds like he might have got into trouble, and maybe his parents want him out of the house now so they can legally spend time with their grandchild and this doesn't have anything to do with how they've been living all these years. 

But is there a version where he doesn't sound like a cunt?

[Al Swearegen]

What is this doing in political pundits?

Shouldn't this be in the Ginseng forum??

Have you decided to try and have a problem with literally everything I post in this forum?

Why yes, yes. Because I'm a misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, racist, anti-Semitic neo-Nazi, (you do look a little Jewish), white privilege having, fedora wearing shitlord. Therefore it is literally my job to have a problem with every dot and tittle you post. I would be delinquent in my responsibilities to not do so.   

Xenophobic White Supremacist too

[Al Swearegen]

I bet you must be missing me instead of this twat. It's not like pisshead is going to actually do anything. Must enjoy being mad all the time at nothing.

Stand on your head in a deep puddle.

[mdagli1]

Make me.

[Calandale]

You choose to make something, you own it.


They should have to keep the spawnling or destroy it.

[Minister Of Silly Walks]

Agree with Cal, if you fuck up and make a dysfunctional human, you are stuck with it. Can't kick it out on the street and say "hey world, we're shit parents, he's your problem now!

If we make this a universal law, parents would then be motivated to either make and raise functional humans, or not make them at all.

[mdagli1]

Nah