SEYMOUR – Michael Criscuolo won a $1.6 million court judgement in January against his landlord after being injured outside his Argonne Terrace apartment, but his lawyer said he has yet to see a dime.
“What happened to Mr. Criscuolo happens all the time. People get injured because there’s a defect on a property, or they slipped on ice, that happens,” said the lawyer, Sean Stokes, of Riscassi & Davis, P.C. in West Haven. “The difference is most of the time we have landlords and property owners that are responsible and either carry insurance coverage, or are self-insured, or show up in court when a case is filed. None of that happened here.”
Criscuolo’s former landlord is SL Seymour, LLC, whose sole member is listed as Sim Levenhartz of New Haven. The property is a 6,400 square-foot, nine-unit apartment building at 23 Argonne Terrace.
The building is currently vacant with the windows boarded up. The property has about $40,000 in outstanding blight fines against it, though it is not currently on the blight list, officials said. A stop work order was issued in 2025 after town officials said an engineering stamp on the renovation plans were not properly certified.
The tax collector said the property is behind on taxes to the tune of about $15,600.
A foreclosure action by a company claiming to be owed $2.2 million on a loan to SL Seymour LLC started in April but was withdrawn a month later.
Levenhartz, meanwhile, has a warrant for his arrest pending for alleged building code violations in the City of New Haven, where The New Haven Independent reported in August that Levenhartz owed $259,000 in blight fines.
The Valley Indy called Levenhartz’ cell phone but his voicemail was full. His lawyer declined comment for this story. The Valley Indy also reached out to the New Haven Police Department for an update on the warrant but did not hear back.
Finally, Criscuolo, who was living in Shelton at the time the lawsuit was filed, was not available for an interview.
The Injury & Lawsuit
Argonne Terrace is off Buckingham Road, which connects to Roosevelt Drive/Route 34 along the Housatonic River.
According to the lawsuit, on May 24, 2024, Criscuolo walked out of the three-story building at 11 p.m. toward the parking lot. His lawyer said the parking lot was littered with construction material and wasn’t lit.
Criscuolo said he struck his foot on an exposed concrete footing.
“He got a nasty wound on his foot after he stepped into some of the construction materials,” Stokes told The Valley Indy Oct. 6. “The injury resulted in a bad infection and ultimately to the amputation of a toe.”
Criscuolo, 65, accumulated about $652,000 in medical bills, according to a court filing.
Criscuolo filed a lawsuit in May 2025 alleging the injury was caused by the “negligence and carelessness” of his landlord. Levenhartz and his company failed to take the necessary steps to protect people from getting hurt, the lawsuit alleged.
Stokes said his client eventually won a default judgement because Levenhartz failed to show up for court.
After a hearing on damages, Judge H. Gordon Hall issued a written judgement in January awarding Criscuolo $1.6 million.
Latest Development
In May, one year after Criscuolo filed his lawsuit and four months after the judgement, attorney Kenneth Rozich, of Jacobs and Rozich, LLC in New Haven, filed an appearance in court on the behalf of Levenhartz.
Rozich filed a motion asking the case to be reopened, arguing that Levenhartz was not properly served with the lawsuit.
The judge denied the motion, saying Levenhartz was properly served.
Levenhartz is appealing the decision. That appeal is pending in court.
Stokes said Levenhartz and his companies have developed a pattern.
“We found out about these other properties he (Levenhartz) owns and learned he never showed up in court,” Stokes said, citing the situation in New Haven.
“What we found ultimately is he appears to be doing whatever he can to avoid these types of responsibilities in the State of Connecticut,” Stokes said. “The City of New Haven is having a horrible time collecting blight liens from him. My client is unfortunately part of that story.”