Joan Rivers squares off again with UES condo squatter

Joan Rivers is heading back to court today to try to kick out a troublesome ex-tenant from the Upper East Side condominium where the comedian presides over the building’s board.

In court papers, Rivers maintains that Elizabeth Hazan created a fire hazard at 1 East 62nd Street by using candles to light her unit after refusing to pay her electric bill and illegally entered the building last month. Hazan is a renter; the owner is a Belize-based corporation.

“Accompanied by a gaggle of reporters, (she) attempted to storm the building … forcing police to close down the street … (and) preventing at least one unit owner from leaving the building,” board lawyer Kevin Smith said of Hazan in an affidavit seen by the New York Daily News.

The board has had other legal run-ins with Hazan, a 41-year-old French Canadian. Her attorney, Darius Marzec, told the newspaper that the board’s latest court filing was “a continued bout of harassment.”

Rivers won a favorable ruling against Hazan in October when a New York state judge barred anyone from entering the $2 million home until the owner forked over $200,000 in unpaid fees. [NYDN]  – Hiten Samtani