Lawsuit slams Housing Authority after deadly gas leaks, residents claim negligence
The government agency responsible for housing hundreds of extremely low-income Columbia residents “refused to take meaningful action to correct problems” and “created unfit and unsafe living conditions” for hundreds of people in an apartment complex that was evacuated this month, according to a recently filed lawsuit.
Two residents of the Allen Benedict Court public housing complex are suing the Columbia Housing Authority for allegedly neglecting to maintain and properly repair repeated gas leaks at the 80-year-old apartments, where two men were found dead on Jan. 17.
The Housing Authority, “due to its lack of concern for this serious health and safety issue, deprived Plaintiffs of the use and enjoyment of their apartments, created unfit and unsafe living conditions for the residents, and caused Plaintiffs to suffer extreme emotional distress and fear,” says the lawsuit filed Jan. 23 by Allen Benedict residents Tammy Basinger and Khaylis Scott.
The lawsuit claims the Housing Authority “failed — even after repeated notice — to remedy a condition that they knew materially affected health, safety, habitability and cleanliness.”
Gas leaks were discovered in dozens of apartments, some of them with “severe and lethal” levels of carbon monoxide detected by the Columbia fire department after two men, 61-year-old Calvin Witherspoon and 30-year-old Derrick Caldwell Roper, were found dead in separate apartments. On Monday, Richland County Coroner Gary Watts confirmed that both men died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
In addition to natural gas leaks, fire department officials also noted other examples of poor living conditions, including faulty or missing fire alarms in some apartments, roach and possibly bed bug infestations, a high volume of rodent droppings and cobwebs and charring in some apartments’ closets.
Subsequently, 411 Allen Benedict residents have been ousted from their apartments, and they’re likely to never live there again, officials say. Residents are being temporarily housed at local hotels.
One Columbia City Councilman, Moe Baddourah, has called for the resignation of Housing Authority director Gilbert Walker and possibly others in the wake of the gas leaks.
The residents’ lawsuit against the Housing Authority was filed as a class action, on behalf of everyone who has lived at Allen Benedict Court for the past three years. The residents are being represented by local attorneys Proffitt & Cox and David Maxfield.
The suit seeks damages equal to about three months’ rent per tenant plus the cost of their attorney fees. Public housing tenants’ rent payments are calculated as a proportion of their individual incomes.
Given the living conditions at Allen Benedict, the lawsuit says residents believe the Housing Authority has collected fair-market rents that are worth more than the actual value of the Allen Benedict apartments.
It’s not clear what the punitive cost could amount to, if the residents were to win their case, but the lawsuit indicates it is less than $5,000,000.
The Housing Authority is funded by the perennially cash-strapped U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
This story was originally published January 28, 2019 at 11:31 AM.
