Slumlord Pays Tenants $3.3 Million
To Settle Inner City Law Center Lawsuit

The Los Angeles Times reported today (click here for story) that Inner City Law Center and Latham & Watkins settled a slum housing lawsuit on behalf of 56 tenants, including 25 children, for $3.3 million.  The children’s recoveries shall be placed in annuities that they will receive when they turn eighteen.  The lawsuit, filed in November 2007, sprang from the landlord’s failure to maintain habitable apartments.  This landlord was cited for over 2,700 code violations!  A seasoned Los Angeles Housing Department inspector described her building as one of the “worst buildings I’ve ever seen.”  Tenants in the building suffered from:

• Dilapidated plumbing that caused ceilings to collapse on top of tenants and sewage to regularly leak into apartments;
• Cockroach infestations so overwhelming that roaches lodged themselves in the ears of sleeping children;
• Such severe bedbug infestations that a doctor recommended that one 12 year-old move out of the building for three months to recover from the hundreds of bedbug bites he had suffered.

“It is criminal that anyone is permitted to profit from such misery, " said Adam Murray, Executive Director of Inner City Law Center.  “Victories like this one are so important because conditions will not improve until slumlords are held accountable for their behavior.”

Help Support Our Services

The need for ICLC’s services has never been greater. Over the past year, we have been inundated by homeless and low-income clients hit hard by the housing and economic crises. We have seen more landlords failing to comply with health and safety codes; more families being evicted; and many more people living one step away from homelessness. Thanks to the generosity of supporters like you, ICLC has been able to offer innovative solutions to meet this increased demand. We need your support to fund these increased services! Please give as generously as you possibly can. Every contribution helps and no amount is too small – or too large. Please click here to DONATE.

Skid Row Walking Tours

To learn about ICLC’s homelessness and slum housing work, join us for a walking tour of Skid Row. The tours begin and end at our offices at Seventh and Central in downtown Los Angeles. The next tours are scheduled for:

• Thursday, January 21, from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm.
• Tuesday, February 16, from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm.

For more information, or to RSVP, please contact Jenniffer Rojas at jrojas@innercitylaw.org.

Happy Holidays from Inner City Law Center!

Thank you for all of your support this year!