Apartment-finding service hit with class action complaint

Two Cook County residents filed a class action suit last month against a real estate company it asserts engaged in deceptive business practices and consumer fraud.

Milton Callahan and Carlene Mighty filed a lawsuit Feb. 17 in Cook County Circuit Court against Shaw Real Estate Group Inc. (SREG), an apartment-finding service.

The plaintiffs claim SREG failed to deliver its services in the manner in which they were presented. Specifically, the suit says, SREG did not refund deposits when it was unable to fulfill its obligations, and maintained the existence of suitable apartments when they did not exist or were not available or habitable.

The plaintiffs seek actual and punitive damages in excess of $50,000, plus attorney fees and costs. They are represented by Robert Augenlicht of Kurtz & Augenlicht in Chicago.

Cook County Circuit Court case number: 2015-CH-02737.

This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note that a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt and represents only one side of the story.