George M. Pavia, Esq. retained me to serve as trial counsel in his lawsuit against James Cyril Couri.

In February 2007, George M. Pavia hired me to represent him and his wife, Antonia Pavia, in a four-and-a-half year old civil lawsuit that was about to be heard by a jury in the New York State Supreme Court, New York County. The Pavias brought suit against thrice-convicted felon, two-time college dropout, prolific pro se litigant James C. Couri and his fourth wife, Marlene Couri. The lawsuit's purpose was to evict Mr. and Mrs. Couri  from one of the four rental apartments within the Pavia Family brownstone located on East 73rd Street off of 5th Avenue. Mr. Couri was the only tenant named in the lease. As was his practice in hundreds of lawsuits, Couri represented himself without a lawyer, acting pro se. Mrs. Couri was represented by Couri's longtime attorney Jon Paul Robbins, Esq. of McLaughlin & Stern, LLP. The basis for the eviction was Mr. Couri's unrelenting, unjustified, and vicious campaign of written and verbal attacks upon the Pavias and a tenant in the building (the allegations are similar in nature to the false and vicious attacks against me).


Prior to my involvement, Mr. Couri was successful in a separate administrative proceeding against the Pavias to have the Division of Housing and Community Renewal declare Couri's rental apartment was in fact subject to the New York City rent stabilization laws. Notably, DHCR found Mr. Paiva overcharged Mr. Couri for rent at the rate of Thirty-Five Dollars ($35) a month. This money was refunded to Mr. Couri. Significantly, DHCR held Mr. Pavia's belief that the apartment was not rent stabilized was in good faith, there being sufficient reason for his belief. Furthermore, none of the three other rental tenants in the building joined Mr. Couri's DHCR application, believing the amount charged for rent was fair and the Pavias were proper landlords. 


Significantly, in the years leading up to Couri's tenancy at the Pavia residence, Couri had been involved in litigation or significant disputes involving many if not all of his landlords, including The Helmsley Carlton House, The Westchester County Country Club, the New York Athletic Club, the Olympic Towers, and a private home in California. 


In May 2007, after a 12-day jury trial, a unanimous jury rendered a verdict in favor of the Pavias and against Couri. Specifically, the jury found Couri to be a legal nuisance. Further, the jury dismissed ALL of Couri's claims against the Pavias, finding none of Couri's claims had merit. In turn, the presiding judge, the Hon. Joan A. Madden, J.S.C., signed an order directing the New York City Sheriff to evict Mr. and Mrs. Couri from the Pavia apartment. Later, Judge Madden wrote, "Couri's conduct in this litigation and his conduct underlying the nuisance, his failure to comply with court orders, his repetitive litigation tactics, and his commencement after the verdict of another action against the Pavias and the Department of Buildings involving the issues litigated herein demonstrates a fundamental disrespect for the legal process, and a willingness to make baseless attacks on the integrity of any individual or institution in his disputes." Couri did not pursue an appeal of the jury's verdict or the order of  the Hon. Karen S. Smith, J.S.C. that dismissed his subsequent action against the Pavias. 


In 2008, according to the order of the Hon. Sheila Abdus-Salaam, J.S.C., as confirmed by the Hon. Judith J. Gische, J.S.C., I recovered approximately $165,000 from two insurance companies indebted to Couri. The $165,000 represented judgments for rent owed to the Pavias and for rent owed to Couri's former landlord, The Helmsley Carlton House.


Mr. Couri, upset by his eviction from a rent stabilized apartment and the loss of $165,000 from a settlement in his personal injury action, continued his campaign of harassment, lies, and half-truths against me, all under the guise of a social networking website known as Scamraiders.com, a blog at http://jimcourinetwork.blogspot.com/, on Youtube.com (search term "Scamraiders"), on Scamsos.com and on Twitter. No third party or government agency has contacted me let alone found credence in  Couri's allegations of bribery, extortion, perjury, suppression of evidence, violation of professional disciplinary rules, forgery, Medicare fraud, and tax evasion. Ironically, Couri's claims I have not "denied" the allegations. Apparently, he has not read this blog. Notably, Couri's claims against me are similar if not exactly the same as the claims Couri made against a number of his other attorney adversaries over the years. The problem here is not any conduct on my part, rather, it is Couri's inability to hold himself accountable for his conduct.


To render himself judgment proof, Couri has for years denuded himself of assets. Thus he feels free to not pay his bills and attack the legitimate reputations of his adversaries. Sadly, one of Couri's victims is his brother John Couri who is a former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Syracuse University and a goodwill philanthropist. But Couri does not play favorites. His victims include many judges, individuals, businesses, and their legal representatives, just about anyone unfortunate enough to cross his path. But do not take my word for it. Read the lucid and heartfelt video-affidavit of his own mother, Katby T. Couri. In her affidavit, in no uncertain terms, Couri's mother declares it is her intent that James Couri, then 48 years old, receive nothing from her estate or the trust established by her late husband and Couri's father. Couri's mother wrote about her son James: "I am sorry to say my son James is a liar, cheat and ruthless person who only thinks about himself. He has no morals and has maintained a lifestyle by cheating others. When people that he gets involved with find out about him they are willing to lose money just to get away from him. My son is not normal and needs psychiatric help."      
Further, Couri mother's video-affidavit states Couri had a gambling problem, hung out with the wrong type of people, went from one get-rich-quick scheme to the next; forged his father's signature, stole $30,000, and lost it in the stock market. Couri claims his mother was sick and died three months after signing the affidavit. The truth is Couri's mother was strong and lucid and passed away, not three months, but three years after she signed the affidavit. Further, any claims of manipulation were refuted by the video record. I have found that James Couri will say or do just about anything to avoid justice.


Published in this blog are decisions of both state and federal judges who have witnessed firsthand Couri's conduct. Read the details about Couri's three felony convictions, the feature length article in Baron's Magazine about Couri's participation in a huge criminal stock fraud enterprise involving Conrac, an electronics company, traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Couri is subject to a lifetime ban from securities law violations. In addition, Couri's attorney admitted that Couri bribed a bank officer, defrauded clients and ran his art galley into bankruptcy. Couri's attorney admitted Couri forged a power-of-attorney. Couri himself admits that he forged land records and another power-of-attorney. Undaunted, according to a tax court decision, while on probation for his felony convictions, Couri met a man from whom he borrowed $71,000 and never paid him back. Also, he managed the same man's pension fund and lost more than $700,000.

It is ironic that Couri claims the court system is shot through with corruption while it was Couri who filed over 100 lawsuits as a pro se litigant in New York County alone. He had no complaints while he abused the court system and his adversaries. When his old tricks no longer worked and a jury held him accountable in the Pavia case, he began to preach.

In 2009, Couri was caught redhanded forging the signature and stamp of a California notary public on 33 different affidavits that he filed in the New York Supreme courts and in the Appellate Division, First Department. These 2009 forgeries were part of a larger scheme to convince his adversary Dr. John Siebert and the presiding judge that Couri was in California and not in New York. Currently, Couri hides in California, having failed to comply with four court orders to sign authorizations to make his personal and corporate tax records available (to show Couri defrauded Siebert). Also, Couri has not complied with a November 2009 court order to make his medical records available (to show he is healthy and able to travel to New York to stand trial).

Ironically, Couri claims that he is dying from melanoma skin cancer and is currently undergoing treatment, yet, he refuses to sign medical authorizations. All the while, he has the stamina to author Scamraiders.com, a number of other web portals, and to prepare and file numerous, voluminous and repetitive motions in the New York State Supreme Court. All of this is a scam to avoid a trial where it is expected Dr. John Siebert will prove Couri defrauded him out of $8.2 million dollars.

Couri claims he has turned over a new leaf and is attempting to portray himself as a victim and educator of those who may be vulnerable to scams. That could not be further from the truth.

[Note: I am a former Colorado Deputy District Attorney and a former Assistant District Attorney in New York City. I am not compensated for writing this blog. I write this blog because people need to know the truth about James Cyril Couri. George M. Pavia, Esq. is a graduate of Columbia University Law School and managing partner of Pavia & Harcourt, LLP, the law firm in which United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonya Sotomayer worked for six years before being nominated to the United States District Court, Southern District of New York, by President George H. W. Bush.]