Robert F. Kennedy in NY court as he fights ballot-access suit claiming he doesn't live in the state

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared in a New York court Monday to fight a lawsuit alleging he falsely claimed to live in New York as he sought to get on the ballot in the state.

Kennedy sat at his attorneys' table, occasionally jotting down notes, as the civil trial began in the state capital of Albany. Under state election law, a judge is set to decide the case without a jury.

The lawsuit alleges that Kennedy’s nominating petition falsely said his residence was in New York’s northern suburbs while he actually has lived in Los Angeles since 2014, when he married “Curb Your Enthusiasm” actor Cheryl Hines.

The suit seeks to invalidate his petition. The case was brought by Clear Choice PAC, a super PAC led by supporters of Democratic President Joe Biden.

The first witness Monday was David Michaelis, a longtime friend who testified that he used to regularly have Kennedy over as a guest from 2014 through 2017 to his home in Westchester County, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) north of midtown Manhattan. Michaelis was handed a court document in which Kennedy said his “friend and landlord” Michaelis requested that he move out of that house in March 2023 since he was a Biden supporter.

Michaelis called that statement “a fiction” and said Kennedy was never his house tenant. He said he last saw Kennedy in Los Angeles around 2019.

Kennedy declined to comment during a court break but said he would speak to reporters after court was done for the day.

Kennedy has the potential to do better than any independent presidential candidate in decades, having gained traction with a famous name and a loyal base. Strategists from both major parties worry that he could win enough votes to tip the election.

His campaign has said he has enough signatures to qualify in 42 states, so far. His ballot drive has faced challenges and lawsuits in various states, including North Carolina and New Jersey.

Kennedy's New York ballot petition lists his residence as a home that a different friend owns in Katonah, a tony suburb in Westchester County, where Kennedy has said he moved after leaving Michaelis' home. But the lawsuit claims that the candidate “has no meaningful or continuous connections to the property” and has spent “vanishingly little time, if any.”

He doesn't have a written lease, and neighbors haven't seen him around, says the lawsuit, filed in June.

“Moreover, the evidence will show that Kennedy’s wife and children live in California, along with his three dogs, two ravens, an emu and his personal belongings,” the lawsuit adds.

Kennedy's lawyers maintain that the 70-year-old candidate — who led a New York-based environmental group for decades and whose namesake father was a New York senator — has lived in the state since he was 10.

“While Mr. Kennedy may have purchased a home in California and temporarily moved his family there while his wife pursues her acting career, Mr. Kennedy is and always has been a New Yorker,” his lawyers wrote in a court filing.

In legal arguments ahead of the trial, Kennedy attorney F. Michael Ostrander said his client has a “continuing connection” to the Katonah area.

According to the court filing, Kennedy visits the Katonah house as often as possible while campaigning, pays New York state income taxes and pays rent to the owner of the house in Katonah. There he gets mail, is registered to vote, is licensed to practice law, keeps clothes and family photos, has a car registered and has it as his address on his driver’s license and various others.

“He even keeps his beloved falcons in New York state,” attorney William F. Savino said in a press release Monday. He said Kennedy intends to move back to New York as soon as his wife retires from acting.

The court date comes the day after a video posted on social media showed Kennedy explaining a New York episode in his life: how a decade ago he retrieved a bear that was killed by a motorist and left it in New York’s Central Park with a bicycle on top.

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Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz contributed from New York.