Huntsville’s elders put legal action on an exhausting “nightmare” after the flood of the apartment

The health of Barbara Young deteriorated after its apartments in downtown Huntsville was flooded in August, according to a trial lodged last week against the developer, the management company and the plumbing entrepreneur.

The tenants of Gateway Apartments Sherry Webb and Gene Riggs joined Young to file a complaint against the developer Huntsville Senior Housing LP, the plumbing entrepreneur Lee Company and the management company Integral Group, LLC. The trial is seeking to become an recourse to the class to represent all residents.

“We are aware of the trial which has been filed and does not comment on active disputes,” wrote Richard White, Vice-President Director of Business Communications of the Integle, in an e-mail at Al.com. Huntsville Senior and Lee did not immediately respond to requests for comments for this story.

According to the trial, Young lived once independently in Gateway and paid $ 939 per month of rent, but now pays several times more in an assisted living house.

“Over the months, Young’s health has started to decrease significantly due to the stress and instability of the situation,” said the trial. “Her condition has deteriorated so significantly that her family … was required to move it to an assisted life center, where she now pays $ 4,300 per month, more than four times what she had previously paid in Gateway.”

Gateway, an apartments complex of 86 units subsidized by the American Department of Housing and Urban Development, offers affordable options to eligible elderly people 62 years and over, many of whom are handicapped. It is affiliated with the Huntville Housing Authority.

The trial has accused Lee Company of having failed “to fully tighten a necklace of aluminum gear” which led to the bursting of the pipe.

After the floods, the management has placed residents in motivated sequence motels, which increased their cost of living and created additional difficulties, said the brief.

To maintain their apartments, the management of Gateway forced residents to continue to pay the rent without the property, added the trial.

“They had to continue to pay the rent for the apartment, and they were told that if they did not continue to pay the rent, they would lose their place, they would rent the apartment under them when it was renovated or repaired “,” Eric Artrip, one of the lawyers who filed the trial, told Al.com.

“Many of these people are involved in a rental situation where they cannot leave without undergoing penalties and we ask the reform of these leases in order to allow them to leave without penalties if they choose it.” ARTRIP added. “Obviously, many of these people have continued to pay the rent even in an apartment in which they have not been for six months and we do not think it is appropriate.”

In addition to the loss of irreplaceable goods such as family photos and heritage parts, there was no insurance of tenants, which means that many residents have no way of replacing other properties than flooding A destroyed, said Artrip.

“It is therefore really offensive for us that they have never received a reward offer for the monetary loss they have suffered,” he added.

“These people, many of whom are elderly and disabled, lived in front of a grocery store, very close to the hospital and close to other amenities such as hair salons, dry cleaners, post office, things like that, ”added Artrip. “Many of these services were at a distance from walking, then after the flood, they were placed in fairly shabby apartments in a place where none of the services they had relied on without hiring a taxi Or an Uber or an understanding of friends or family to take them.

The residents ask for a complete return on the rent they paid while they lived outside the apartment complex, an experience that the trial described as “a long and exhausting nightmare”.

“The displaced residents, who were all older, and many of whom are disabled and without family support, had trouble finding stable housing and were forced to move several times between the temporary housing agreements,” said the trial. “People with medical needs have been particularly affected because the lack of stability has disrupted their access to necessary daily care, medicines and essentials.”

The complainants also request compensation for damaged goods, emotional distress and difficulties, and accounting of money allegedly perceived by management.