A lawsuit against Lindsey Management Co. Inc. of Fayetteville has been moved, at least for now, from Saline County District Court to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
The lawsuit, initially filed in November, alleges multiple violations of the state’s Deceptive and Unconscionable Trade Practices law. Plaintiffs include residents of Benton, Springdale, Little Rock and Dermott.
Proposed members of the class-action lawsuit include tenants who have lived in Lindsey rental properties in the past five years and “who have been a victim of the deceptive and unconscionable trade practices, fraud or breaches of contract.” The lawsuit says that the potential plaintiffs are sufficiently numerous to justify class-action status.
Lindsey Management Co. owns and operates more than 2,500 apartment units in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska, Mississippi and Alabama.
Mickey Stevens of Benton, attorney for the plaintiffs, said he has filed a motion to return the case to Saline County District Court.
“I don’t think there’s any grounds for federal jurisdiction,” he said Tuesday.
The lawsuit accuses Lindsey management and its shareholders, directors and officers of orchestrating a scheme in which title to each property is held by a separate legal entity, a tactic that plaintiffs’ attorneys say is designed to avoid liability and which has been used in several lawsuits.
Anne Mourney, general counsel for Lindsey, said in an emailed statement that the company “will continue to defend the lawsuit vigorously.”
“Lindsey Management Co. Inc. is a management company that provides administrative and accounting services to numerous multifamily apartment communities throughout the state of Arkansas on behalf of the owners of properties. Lindsey Management is aware of plaintiffs’ lawsuit - as originally filed last year and as amended on two occasions,with the most recent amendment attempting to assert a class action. Plaintiffs’ lawsuit and their recently issued press release have no merit,” the statement said.
The plaintiffs’ lawsuit alleges that Lindsey has a practice in which managers and leasing staff members show prospective tenants model apartments that are in good condition, then place them in apartments that are in poor condition.
Prospective tenants are not allowed to see the apartment they are leasing until they sign the lease, the lawsuit says.
Other problems cited by the plaintiffs include mold around windowsills, infestation of cockroaches, rodents and other pests and water damage to floors around the edges of walls causing baseboards to warp.
Business, Pages 25 on 07/24/2013