In the wake of a Court of Appeal ruling that tenant evictions at Lincoln Place were unlawful, current and former tenants have gone back to court, seeking restitution and damages.

On Friday, March 14th, attorneys John Murdock and David Lefkowitz filed a First Amended Complaint adding plaintiffs to the lawsuit against Apartment Investment & Management Company (AIMCO), the owner of the historic Lincoln Place apartments, for restitution and damages on behalf of 191 current and former tenants of the long-embattled Venice complex.

In its 2007 annual report, AIMCO acknowledged to shareholders that “Plans to develop Lincoln Place have been the subject of controversy and litigation, which reduces its market value and may result in a future impairment.”

“No kidding,” Sheila Bernard, president of the Lincoln Place Tenants Association, said. “AIMCO took a bad business gamble. They broke the law and hurt a lot of people…Yu bet it’s going to cost them.”

Tenant leaders are asking that AIMCO restore the illegally terminated tenancies of 450 households, which included many seniors and families with children. Eviction threats persuaded many families to abandon their rent-controlled apartments. The lawsuit for damages demands that AIMCO compensate these households for the higher rents they’ve had to pay since leaving Lincoln Place, as well as for the destruction of their community and the harm done to their lives. Most of the plaintiffs are also asking to return to their former apartments.

On December 6, 2005, AIMCO had the LA County Sheriffs lock out 52 households, including 21 children and 65 adults. It was the largest single-day sheriff lockout in the history of Los Angeles.

According to lead attorney John Murdock, who shepherded LPTA’s case against AIMCO and the City of LA to victory, Superior Court Judge David Yaffe has issued an injunction preventing further evictions at Lincoln Place. Attorneys for the tenants will use this injunction to obtain dismissals for the 48 households who are currently fighting their Unlawful Detainers in court.

“AIMCO abused its power,” added Amanda Seward, an entertainment and intellectual property rights attorney who learned landlord-tenant law on the job as she successfully held off the eviction of the last group of senior and disabled households who continue to anchor the complex. “The company underestimated the tenants at Lincoln Place and they are not going away.”