A man from the Bronx, New York, who is on life support due to COVID-19, was sued by a lending company after contracting COVID-19 and being subsequently hospitalized, the New York Post reported Monday.

Jeffery Schneider, who owns a rent-controlled building, applied for a loan in May 2021 after some of his tenants stopped paying rent due to the COVID-19 rent moratorium, according to paperwork filed by his wife, Cindy Schneider, the NYP reported. Months later, Schneider was hospitalized with COVID-19 and put on life support. 

Schneider’s payments to Premier Capital Funding stopped due to his illness, the NYP reported. After two days on life support, the company filed a lawsuit Dec. 1 against Schneider in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

The loan Schneider originally took out was $23,000, of which he was able to repay $25,000, but still owes $58,000 due to the high-interest rate, the NYP reported. Schneider’s family offered to pay a lump sum of $11,000 to aid the remaining debts, “they still rejected it. They wanted their fees,” family lawyer Ashlee Colonna Cohen explained to the New York Post.

Premier Capital Funding has reportedly filed another lawsuit against Schneider in Manhattan Supreme Court for $20,000, regarding the same loan, the NYP reported..

Cindy Schneider is now requesting a judge to reverse a Jan. 4 default judgment that Premier secured for $38,000 against Remie, according to the NYP. Cindy claims on January 10, 2022, she discovered the default judgment when a check she’d written to an employee from Remie Realty bounced because Premier froze her husband’s personal and business accounts to recoup the $38,000.

Schneider’s wife, Cindy told the NYP that he is “incapacitated, disabled and unable to protect his interest or appear in this action.” His company, Remie Realty Corp. has shut down leaving Cindy to handle medical bills, attorney fees and all related expenses from when Schneider was a landlord.

“They are fully aware that Jeff is in this condition,” the family lawyer told the NYP. New York state law prohibits default judgments against incapacitated people, according to Cohen.