D.C. Attorney General Sues Apartment Complex Managers

WASHINGTON -- The District of Columbia’s attorney general is suing the owners and management of three apartment complexes for what he described as endangering the health and safety of residents.

The lawsuits seek court orders to ensure building owners make necessary repairs and security improvements, restitution for tenants and penalties for allegedly violating D.C. law.

The biggest complex is Marbury Plaza, a 674-unit development in the Anacostia neighborhood.

The lawsuit accuses the management of allowing the complex to deteriorate, which has included toxic mold, infestations of mice and bedbugs, broken elevators and non-working air conditioning.?

The District government sent cooling buses to the complex last month during the hottest days.

When it was built in 1968, the rent-controlled complex was rich with amenities in its two eleven-story towers and seven garden-style buildings. It fell into disrepair after new owners purchased it in 2015, according to the lawsuit.

“The oasis Marbury Plaza once was is now a minefield of housing code violations,” the lawsuit says. “Tenants, many seniors with disabilities, now fear for their safety because anyone from the outside can easily enter the property.”

A second lawsuit is filed against owners and managers of two rent-controlled residential buildings in Brightwood. It says a lack of security and maintenance contributed to assaults on residents in recent months.

A third lawsuit says a lack of security at an apartment building in Washington Highlands led to illegal drug activity and gun violence, including shootings that shattered windows of a nearby elementary school.

For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: [email protected] or phone: 202-479-7240.