State Senator Repeatedly Failed Clients in Court, Leading to Evictions and Lost Cases

When a member of State Senator Luis Sepúlveda’s staff faced eviction in 2023, the staffer had good reason to be hopeful: Sepúlveda, a practicing attorney, agreed to be his lawyer. Sepúlveda, who chairs the Senate’s powerful Judiciary Committee, then failed to show up to court twice, causing his staffer to lose by default and ultimately leave his home with an eviction on his record.

This wasn’t unusual behavior for Sepúlveda, who for years has maintained a private law practice marked by skipped court appearances, faulty paperwork, and missed deadlines, New York Focus has found.

His legal missteps stretch back to at least 2017, when a judge rejected his request for a default judgment after he failed to appear at a hearing and submitted a legal filing improperly.

Since that year, he has earned somewhere between $345,000 and $545,000 in legal fees, according to public financial disclosures. New York lawmakers are allowed to pursue outside sources of income, and there is no indication that Sepúlveda violated his obligations as a lawmaker.

In an interview, Sepúlveda defended his track record. “I always aspire to have the highest level of competency in everything I do for my clients,” he said.

In the case of his staffer, Sepúlveda had filed a request for a delay in the case, submitting a letter showing that his staffer had military training scheduled — but the training was in 2022, the previous year, making it irrelevant to the case. The staffer, who no longer works for Sepúlveda, declined to comment.

This wasn’t an isolated incident. Judges have noted similar failures by Sepúlveda in at least nine cases over the past decade. And in three other cases, Sepúlveda has acknowledged missing filing deadlines, or been the subject of complaints from other lawyers for lateness and going incommunicado.

Such failures can be grounds for serious professional consequences, such as censure or suspension from the bar. Sepúlveda does not appear to have faced any.

Sepúlveda’s legal mishaps were first reported by Hell Gate and City Limits.

Three experts in legal ethics said that Sepúlveda’s conduct in these cases violated professional standards that lawyers are required to follow.

The behavior “certainly rises to the level of disciplinary action, possibly suspension, and even disbarment,” said Bennett Gershman, a law professor at Pace University. Sepúlveda “shouldn’t be practicing law” and could face lawsuits for malpractice from dissatisfied clients, he added.

“A pattern of not paying attention to your obligations is not a mistake, it’s professional negligence,” said Ellen Yaroshefsky, a law professor who has served on official committees regulating ethical and professional standards for New York attorneys.

Sepúlveda told New York Focus, “I’ve been an attorney now for 34 years. I’ve never had a complaint filed against me by any client.”

One of Sepulveda’s former clients, Jasmin Ruiz, said that Sepúlveda “has been an incredible lawyer for me and my family,” and “always goes the extra mile.” But the court records suggest otherwise. In 2022, in a case where Sepúlveda represented a property company connected to Ruiz, a motion that he filed was rejected because he failed to file the proper accompanying documents.

Sepúlveda, who represents parts of the Central Bronx, was elected to the New York Assembly in 2012, and the state Senate in 2018. He became chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee in January of this year.

As a lawyer, the mistakes have piled up. In two cases, Sepúlveda blamed mistakes on his staffers, telling judges that he missed a hearing and a filing deadline because his staff put incorrect dates on his calendar. In one of those cases, his client lost after Sepúlveda failed to file a closing argument, despite a judge’s order to do so. In another case, he blamed a courthouse scanner for failing to capture all the pages of a legal filing.

Some of the mistakes show extreme carelessness. In 2024, Sepúlveda secured an agreement allowing his client, a Bronx landlord, to evict a tenant. But when the landlord tried to follow through and obtain an eviction warrant, it turned out that the agreement had never been signed by the tenant, a man named Francis Arias. Instead, it had been signed by a woman, Ana Polanco, who was not named in the proceeding. This meant that the agreement was invalid, and the court refused to issue an eviction warrant. Neither Arias nor Polanco could be reached for comment.

The errors have continued into the present. In a March eviction case where he represented a tenant, Sepúlveda asked the court to dismiss a judgment against his client — but no such judgment existed. He then missed the hearing where this request was considered, leading to an automatic denial. Sepúlveda subsequently missed another court date, causing his client to lose the case by default and face eviction.

Sepúlveda’s position as chair of the state Senate’s Judiciary Committee means that he oversees the confirmation process of many of the state’s judges, and evaluates legislation regulating the state’s legal system.

It also likely enhances Sepúlveda’s image to potential clients, one expert noted. “This person is a state senator — that might give you some reassurance that you’ve picked a good lawyer,” said Rebecca Roiphe, a professor at New York Law School. “In this instance, that would be a mistake.”