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RESIDENTS OF SUBSTANDARD HOUSING
It has been estimated that 48,000 people get sick in Los Angeles each year because of slum housing conditions. These buildings are infested with rats, cockroaches, and fleas. They have no heat, and often no electricity or water. The plumbing backs up, if it works at all. The bathrooms and kitchens are covered in mold because of leaky pipes. These buildings are literally falling apart – with collapsing ceilings and floors, holes in the doors, windows, and walls. We represent the individuals and families that live in these buildings – buildings that cannot be described as anything but slums.
The scope of our advocacy and litigation on behalf of our clients is far-reaching and precedent setting. When ICLC first started, most legal experts believed that there were little or no damages to be had in the slum housing arena. ICLC’s legal team, in conjunction with our pro bono partners, has repeatedly shown that these cases can bring substantial benefits to tenants.
For example:
- In 1999, Board member Dan Woods and a team of ICLC and White & Case LLP attorneys negotiated a settlement on behalf of 98 individuals and families for $2 million.
- In 2000, Board member Tom Nolan and a team of ICLC and Howrey LLP attorneys represented the tenants of a building where the conditions were so horrible that a child had died. After three days of trial, ICLC negotiated a $1.9 million settlement on behalf of the 24 adults and 33 children who lived in the building.
- Also in 2000, ICLC worked with Board member Tom Freiberg and Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. to establish that significant remedies were available when a landlord forced even just a single family to live in slum conditions. In this case, ICLC was able to recover $115,000 for a family that lived with legions of rats in a house that was in danger of falling from a lack of maintenance.
- In another seminal case, we represented the tenants of a building, including two young children who suffered from cystic fibrosis. At night, the rats in this building chewed into the feeding tubes hooked up to shunts in the children’s stomachs. ICLC’s legal team worked with Board member Dorothy Wolpert and her firm, Bird, Marella, Boxer, Wolpert, Nessim, Drooks & Lincenberg to secure $2.1 million for the 44 tenants of this building.
- In December 2000, when a 24-unit building in Echo Park collapsed, killing a young father of two and rendering the surviving tenants homeless, ICLC was able to help the tenants find alternative housing and brought suit against the landlords whose negligence had led to the collapse. In this case, ICLC’s legal team worked with board member Jim Barrall and Latham & Watkins LLP to secure ICLC’s largest settlement to date. We settled for just over $6 million.
- In 2006, ICLC represented 220 tenants (about half of whom were children) in a horrible slum where we routinely heard stories such as this one from a teenage boy who lived in the building: “One night a cockroach entered my ear in the early morning hours as I slept. It was very painful as I could feel it moving around inside my ear and it seemed like it was biting me all the while. My mom was able to remove it by applying alcohol, and it eventually came out of my ear canal, dead.” The legal team at ICLC, along with co-counsel Dorothy Wolpert and her firm, Bird, Marella, Boxer, Wolpert, Nessim, Drooks & Lincenberg, succeeded in recovering $6.9 million for tenants who had lived through the horrible conditions of this building.
- In November 2009, Inner City Law Center and Latham & Watkins LLP announced settlement of a lawsuit against landlord Monica Hujazi for $3.3 million. The lawsuit, filed in November 2007, on behalf of 56 tenants, including 25 children, sprang from Hujazi's neglect of her landlord duties and failure to maintain habitable apartments. Hujazi's building was cited for over 2,700 code violations, and is one of the "worst buildings I've ever seen," according to a seasoned Los Angeles Housing Department inspector. Hujazi denied all wrongdoing. Click here for a PowerPoint presentation to learn more about the habitability issues that existed in this building.
- In March 2010, ICLC attorneys, with assistance from Tom Nolan of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP negotiated a substantial confidential settlement on behalf of fourteen adults and eleven children who lived in two buildings owned by a notorious LA slumlord. These buildings were infested with vermin and rodents. They had inadequate heating, ventilation and fire protection. Their plumbing systems, flooring and walls were literally falling apart. The buildings were cited for hundreds of health and safety violations, including hazardous wiring, and exposed electrical outlets and receptacles. The front third of one of these buildings actually collapsed in January of 2009 due to water damage caused by landlord neglect. One woman, who was in her bed when the building collapsed, fell two stories and landed in the basement. The collapsed building was never rebuilt, but ICLC forced the slumlord to make substantial repairs to the second building, bringing it up to code, and to pay for alternate accommodations for displaced tenants until they could make new living arrangements. The settlement will enable all of the tenants to provide an economic cushion for their families, and to find healthier housing. The children, whose money was placed in annuities, will receive very substantial funds when they turn 18, enabling them to attend college or take advantage of other opportunities.
For more information about our habitability and housing programs, please contact:
Amos Hartston, Chief Counsel and Director of Legal Services, ahartston@innercitylaw.org.
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