Class-Action Lawsuit brought against Columbia Housing Authority Living Conditions

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO)– More than 400 people displaced from their home and now the Columbia Housing Authority is facing a class-action lawsuit. It means that residents who say they have been dealing with issues at Allen Benedict Court for months, some even say years, might be able to receive compensation.

Attorneys Ron Cox and Dave Maxfield say the class action lawsuit is seeking compensation for those who were paying rent for a safe living environment, and simply didn’t get that.

“You know, you may have a tendency to think, well, this was low income housing, you get what you pay for. But these rules are safety rules, whether it’s a luxury condominium or student housing,”  Maxfield said.

The class-action lawsuit will have to go before a judge first to determine if the lawsuit can benefit all of the residents of Allen Benedict Court Apartments who were forced out of their homes and put into hotels more than a week ago.

“Every landlord has a basic obligation in a residential lease situation to provide a safe, habitable place for the renters to live. That’s the basic, fundamental thing that they failed to do. We don’t know all the reasons why it didn’t happen, but we intend to try to find out,” Cox said.

Cox and Maxfield believe they are just at the beginning. Some residents have told them they have lived with infestations of roaches, bedbugs, mold and sewage issues. They say those are all violations that can be found in the S.C. Residential Landlord and Tenant Act: citing inhabitable conditions due to health and safety concerns.

“If what we’ve heard is true, their rights have been violated for a very long time, but people aren’t always aware of that,” Cox said.

Bob Coble, who is representing the Housing authority says he expects there might be more lawsuits to follow.

“I have not seen that, and once we get this lawsuit, or any other lawsuit, you know we will certainly deal with it… and you know it’s a very serious matter. I imagine there will be a number of lawsuits,” Coble said.

The Columbia Housing Authority has 30 days to respond to the class-action lawsuit.