A federal judge has overturned rent reductions that the Union City Rent Stabilization Board gave to two tenants at buildings on Sixth Street and Palisades Avenue.

In an opinion issued earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Brian R. Martinotti ruled that Union City’s rent board lacked the legal basis to reconsider rents for Emilio Puente, a tenant at 309-311 Sixth Street, and Ramon Gracesqui at 1101-1109 Palisades Avenue, court records show.

Union City’s rent leveling ordinance requires that the board must find “new evidence” of an overcharge to justify a rent reduction. The judge found there wasn’t new evidence in either case to justify the reductions, according to the ruling.

In October 2019, Union City reduced Puente’s rent from $996 to $764 a month. Based on the lower rent determinat

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