Nassau County Legislator Mazi Melesa Pilip (R-Great Neck), the Republican candidate for the 3rd Congressional District, was subpoenaed to testify in an ongoing lease dispute case against her husband and his medical practice. 

Pilip is due in court on Monday for a deposition related to allegations against her husband, Dr. Adalbert Pilip, and his medical practice, A.P. New York Comprehensive Medical Care. The suit accuses Dr. Pilip and his practice of allegedly failing to pay approximately $72,000 in rent due as of late 2020 and owing nearly $500,000 for the five remaining years on the lease through 2026, according to court documents filed in 2021. 

Pilip, who was not named in the complaint, was allegedly the operations director of the practice at the time of the suit and stopped working there to run for her first elected office in 2021. 

“This is nothing more than an ongoing lease dispute between a private business and a landlord,” Brian Devine, spokesman for Pilip’s campaign, said in a statement to Blank Slate Media. 

Pilip is currently running against former Democratic U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi to fill out the remaining term of George Santos, who was expelled from Congress last year. 

Steven Ferber, attorney for the plaintiff, Progressive Housing Corp., argued that Pilip has to be deposed before the Feb. 13 Election Day because if she does win then her availability will become limited.

“If Donald Trump can appear in court and for depositions while he is campaigning for his presidency, surely Ms. Pilip can spare a few hours to attend her deposition,” Ferber wrote to State Supreme Court Justice George Nolan. He is the senior partner for Islandia-based Davis & Ferber LLP.

William Birney, attorney for the Pilips, said the doctor was available to be deposed on Feb. 14 and that his wife could be deposed afterward, accusing the plaintiff’s counsel in “what appears to be an attempt to exert pressure upon the defendant and his wife who is presently actively engaged in her campaign as a candidate for election to the United States House of Representative in a special election to be held on Feb. 13, 2024.”

Ferber wrote that he subpoenaed Pilip after finding out in December from a newspaper interview that she was the operations manager of the practice and that she was as familiar with the business as her husband. 

 “If I was looking to exert pressure, I would have returned the multiple phone calls from the media seeking a statement concerning the lawsuit and actions of the defendant Dr. Pilip and his wife,” Ferber wrote to Nolan on Jan. 9.