The New York City Housing Authority's attempt to evict a mentally ill senior citizen with more than 30 years as a NYCHA tenant was “unnecessarily harsh,” a Manhattan judge ruled Wednesday.

Supreme Court Justice Doris Ling-Cohan (See Profile) held the action was “disproportionate to the offense of failing to appear at the scheduled hearing and, in light of all the circumstances, shocking to one's sense of fairness.”

Ling-Cohan also held in Matias v. New York City Housing Authority, 401522/2013, a guardian ad litem had to be appointed to protect the interests of the pro se plaintiff because she appeared “confused.”