Building-Wide Lawsuits

Building-Wide Lawsuits

If you are a tenant of a large apartment facing issues in your rental unit, you may not be alone. Your neighbors could be experiencing the same issues. If so, you may be eligible for a building-wide, mass tenant lawsuit.

What is a building-wide lawsuit?

A building-wide lawsuit is a legal proceeding in which a group of people, experience identical or similar consequences as a result of wrongful actions from another party. The purpose of a building-wide lawsuit is to increase the strength of a legal case based on the experience of many individuals. When there are multiple people experiencing the same issue, the value of the lawsuit can grow significantly as it is not a one sided issue. For this reason, building-wide lawsuits generally require a large number of plaintiffs.

There must be a commonality between the claims of the class members towards the other party. Building-wide lawsuits are concerned with uniform issues such as when liability can be determined for all group members with the presentation of facts. However, due to the large scale complexity of building-wide lawsuits, very few cases go to trial. Many building-wide lawsuits almost always reach a negotiated resolution for both parties with the aid of legal intervention. In building-wide lawsuits, each member of the group may receive a form of settlement if and when resolved.

What are some examples?

General habitability cases such as bug infestation, defective heating systems, and leaks are generally not suitable for building-wide lawsuits because not every tenant experiences the same extent of problems. For example, one may have bed bugs, but another may have ceiling leaks. Some common housing issues that typically do qualify for building-wide lawsuits are:

1. Multi-unit repair cases - when owner fails to repair common areas of the building.

2. Landlord Harassment - physical or verbal

3. Wrongful evictions from multiple units.

This is not an extensive list. Many other housing circumstances can also warrant a building-wide lawsuit. If you are experiencing issues regarding this matter or are unsure of your rights, then book a free consultation with us, as we may be able to help you and your fellow neighbors.