A man returned home to find a new $1.5 million house on land he acquired decades ago. Now he's suing for $2 million.

Dr. Daniel Kenigsberg said he returned to his hometown to find a new house on property he owned. Through research he found that it had been fraudulently sold in 2022, CTInsider said.

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• Dr. Daniel Kenigsberg said a Connecticut lot he acquired in 1991 sold without his consent in 2022.
• He recently visited the town to find an under-construction home on the property.
• He is suing the LLC that purchased the land, since he said he never sold it.

A Long Island man is suing a limited liability company after a home was built without his knowledge on a lot that he said was sold without his consent.

Dr. Daniel Kenigsberg had owned the nearly half-acre parcel of land at 51 Sky Top Terrace next to his childhood home in Fairfield, Connecticut, just 25 miles outside of New Haven, since 1991. His father purchased the property in 1953 for $5,000.

A friend alerted him that there was a home being built on the land, and while in town from Long Island, he stopped by the property to see if it was true, CTInsider reported.

Fairfield County property records show that the property had been sold in October 2022 for $350,000 to 51 Sky Top Partners LLC. Kenigsberg said he had nothing to do with the sale and is now suing the company on nine counts, including trespass, statutory theft, and unfair trade practices, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in July, seeks to void the 2022 sale and is asking for damages and compensation up to $2 million, CTInsider reported.

It also orders the defendants to "remove any structures and/or materials from the Property and restore the Property to the condition that it was in prior to Defendants' trespass upon it."

That would include removing the four-bedroom, 4,000-square-foot house that's currently being built on the property by a local construction firm affiliated with 51 Sky Top Partners LLC, CTInsider said. The home, which was priced at $1.475 million, has a contingent offer, according to its listing on Coldwell Banker. It was listed in March.

"I'm angry that so many people were so negligent that this could have happened," Kenigsberg told CTInsider. "It's more than obnoxious, it's offensive and wrong."

The lawsuit details a claim that a Daniel Kenigsberg of Johannesburg, South Africa, signed "an obviously forged power-of-attorney to steal real property," CTInsider said.

The power of attorney — in this case, the right to sign documents on Kenigsberg's behalf — was granted to lawyer Anthony Monelli of Trumbull, Connecticut. Monelli is one of the three owners of 51 Sky Top Partners LLC, along with Gina Leto and Greg Bugaj, CTInsider said.

Besides missing out on a $350,000 payday, Kenigsberg said he was holding onto the land for sentimental reasons, and had intended to pass it on to the next generation.

Read the original article on Business Insider

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