Daniel Vitek, Esq.
Daniel G. Vitek (he/him) is a supervising attorney at Community Justice Project’s Pittsburgh office and has been an attorney with CJP since 2018. Dan’s practice area focuses on tenant rights, consumer access to affordable utilities, and civil rights more broadly. His work includes organizing tenant associations for residents of mobile home parks and subsidized housing communities so the residents can collectively address their concerns, training social workers and attorneys about tenant rights, and providing expert testimony on tenant access to utility services in rate cases before the Pennsylvania Utility Commission. Additionally, Dan has extensive experience pursuing impact litigation in state and federal court, including class actions, and before administrative tribunals.
Some of Dan’s representative matters include:
Ohler v. High Top, LLC (Somerset County Court of Common Pleas, 292 cv 2019): Dan and CJP colleague Peter Zurflieh filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of residents of a mobile home park, resulting in a consent order requiring repair of leaks in the park’s water system and snow plowing of the road during the winter.
Chambers v. McFarland, LP, et al. (U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, 1:21-cv-01434): Dan represented a victim of sexual harassment by the property maintenance supervisor in a Fair Housing Act lawsuit against the property owner and management company. The parties ultimately entered into a consent order requiring the Defendants to implement an anti-harassment policy drafted by Dan and conduct fair housing training amounts it staff. The case also brought monetary relief to the victim.
Coughenour v. LWE Roosevelt, L.P. (Court of Common Pleas, GD-23-000382): Dan, along with co-counsel, represented residents of a subsidized housing complex in a lawsuit filed to prevent the residents from being locked out of their apartments without due process of law. The Court entered a preliminary injunction halting the eviction of tenants and creating a process for residents to relocate in an orderly process under the supervision of the Court.
PUC v. PWSA (Pennsylvania Utility Commission, R-2018-300265): Dan provided expert witness testimony on behalf of a community group on the requirements of tenant protections from the wrongful termination of their water service along with recommendations of best practices to ensure those rights are respected, leading to the adoption by the utility provider of formal policies to protect tenants.
Prior to joining CJP in 2018, Dan started his pro bono career at Neighborhood Legal Services, where he worked for nine years and rose to become Senior Housing Attorney there. Dan graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law (JD 2008) and cum laude from the University of Rochester (BA 2003). In his spare time, Dan enjoys spending time with his family, mountain biking, and fishing the streams and lakes of Pennsylvania.