CHICAGO – A man has filed a class action suit calling his former landlord "a slumlord with an empire of crumbling properties across Chicago and Evanston" over allegations the landlord never repaired issues that made his apartment uninhabitable.
Tyler Swain filed a complaint individually and on behalf of all similarly situated persons on Sept. 24 in Cook County Circuit Court against Sargon Isaac, doing business as SI Properties and Simla Properties, and Richard Samuels alleging failure to maintain rental properties and other counts.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff signed a lease with Isaac for an apartment and occupied the apartment beginning in February 2016. He alleges while he lived there, the refrigerator became inoperable, raw sewage flooded the unit, the living room ceiling collapsed, drug paraphernalia was left in the building's common areas, and there were infestations of mice, cockroaches and bedbugs. He alleges he complained of these issues to Isaac and nothing was done and he vacated the apartment in August 2016.
The plaintiff holds Isaac and Samuels responsible because the defendants allegedly refused to return security deposits, charged fees to moving out tenants to fix problems that existed when they moved in, refused to make repairs and charged hundreds of dollars for the few repairs Isaac did make to units rented by persons of color or LGBTQ.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks judgment against defendants, permanent injunction barring defendants from further violations of the Fair Housing Act, costs of suit, attorney's fees, and additional relief. He is represented by attorneys Sheryl Ring and Christopher Riehlmann of Open Communities Legal Assistance Program in Evanston.
Cook County Circuit Court case number 18-CH-11987