About 90 tenants of a South Los Angeles apartment building reached a settlement with their former landlord in their lawsuit alleging their units were plagued by vermin, lack of hot water, poor plumbing and other maintenance problems, attorneys announced Friday.
The terms of the resolution between the residents and Franco Haeim and his company, Bracha Investments LLC, were not disclosed, but it brought an abrupt halt to a trial in which testimony began earlier this week. Bracha Investments owned the three-story, 26-unit building at 2108 Maple Ave. from July 2008 until December 2012.
The allegations in the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit included negligence, breach of the implied warranty of habitability, premises liability, intentional infliction of emotional distress and unlawful collection of rent.
Upon being notified of the settlement, Judge Michael Linfield dismissed the jury.
In their court papers, defense attorneys said many of the tenants never notified their landlord of any problems and that repairs were prevented when the residents changed the locks on their doors without notifying management. The lawyers also say the residents knew of the conditions there when they chose to sign their lease agreement
The last witness to testify in the trial was tenant Francisca Garcia, who fought back tears Thursday as she described her family’s living conditions both before and after the building was acquired by Bracha Investments. She said she became a resident of the building in November 1991.
“My family and myself suffered very much during the time that Frank owned the building,” she said with the help of a Spanish-language interpreter. “My unit was super horrible with lots of cockroaches and mice.”
Garcia testified that on one occasion she and the family were in the living room when they became aware of a large number of cockroaches in the kitchen.
“It seemed like a swarm,” she said. “My husband and my children, we all got scared. My husband was saying we have to kill them.”
Garcia said she and her relatives sometimes trapped five to 10 mice a day and that many of the rodents carried fleas.
She said her son acquired welts because of the vermin infestations.
— City News Service