*Case Study: Defeated Illegal Eviction by The Grand Apartments
Signing a lease for a new apartment is exciting. Moving to a new place comes with a pretty big to-do list — but one item likely missing from it is how to handle moving on short notice when the landlord attempts to evict you due to an alleged catastrophe in the building. This actually happened to our clients who lived at The Grand Apartments, a luxury apartment building in downtown Denver.
When our clients decided they weren’t going to leave on such short notice, the landlord sued them. They fought back and won with our Litigation Team’s legal prowess. Keep reading to find out how we succeeded.
Past results afford no guarantee of future results; each matter is different and must be judged on its own merits. Facts are those of an actual Robinson & Henry case.
Background: The Grand Apartments
In this case, the landlord is formally known as 1709 Chestnut Place, LLC. To its tenants, it is known as The Grand Apartments — or simply The Grand.
Situated in downtown Denver near Union Station, The Grand Apartments were marketed as a luxurious place to “live where you can impress your friends.”
With its long list of high-end amenities like a salt-water lap pool, virtual reality Ski Simulator, and a community garden with fresh vegetables and herbs at the ready, what’s not to love?
Well, a few things.
The (Not-So-Grand) Grand
Water, Water Everywhere
Many of The Grand Apartment’s residents experienced flooding. Turns out, poorly installed pipes from initial construction caused the problem.
Everybody Out
The landlord alleged the flooding was a “catastrophe” to justify vacating the entire building in order to begin repairs. The Grand didn’t renew some tenants’ leases, and it asked others to leave before their leases expired. Finally, the landlord served some tenants with eviction notices.
During this time, The Grand Apartments also cut back its amenities, which left the remaining tenants without all the luxuries they had paid for.
As one can imagine, the unexpected eviction notices weren’t well received.
The Landlord Sues Our Clients
At least two sets of tenants at The Grand Apartments made the choice to remain in their units until the end of their leases. It wasn’t long before they received another notice: the landlord was suing them.
The landlord alleged our clients had violated their lease by refusing to vacate the premises after they were served with the notice to quit. A notice to quit is what the non-legal world knows as an eviction notice. (If you’re curious, here’s a sample notice to quit provided by the Colorado courts.)
Fight Back Against Illegal Eviction
After being sued, the two sets of tenants reached out to Robinson & Henry for help. R&H Senior Associate and Civil Litigation Attorney Christopher “Kit” Davlin took their case.
In addition to defending our clients from wrongful eviction, Kit filed counterclaims against the landlord. Our lawsuits asserted that the landlord was actually the party that breached the lease agreement — not our clients. Here’s why:
Even if the landlord’s position that the building required significant construction repairs were true, The Grand Apartments was still obligated to fulfill its lease agreement with our clients.
According to the lease agreement, the landlord had two options:
- Move the tenants to another location within The Grand, or
- find its tenants comparable living arrangements outside of The Grand.
The Grand Apartments argued it couldn’t move tenants to other units because of the flooding, nor did it have to pay to move them to comparable living arrangements.
The Cases Go to Trial
We had two sets of tenants as clients, and their trials were held in front of two different judges.
Each judge agreed with our clients’ positions: the landlord was the breaching party. The Grand Apartments had breached its agreement with the tenants the moment it terminated the tenants’ leases and failed to move the tenants to a comparable location.
The courts requested a damages hearing, and The Grand quickly reached a confidential settlement.
Find Out if You Have a Case
If you have been affected by what you believe is a wrongful eviction or lease termination, call 303-688-0944 to begin a case assessment.
Past results afford no guarantee of future results; each matter is different and must be judged on its own merits. Facts are those of an actual Robinson & Henry case.