ST. LOUIS — Five displaced residents of the Heritage House Apartments on Monday filed suit against the apartments, the building's management company, Sansone Group LLC and several other parties, demanding a jury trial and asking that the defendants pay for residents' alternative housing through 2024.
The lawsuit, filed by the former residents of the apartments on behalf of themselves and other residents, accused the defendants of violating the Missouri Merchandising Act, breach of contract and wrongful termination, and breach of implied warranty of habitability.
Residents were forced out of their homes in January after a water main break caused massive flood damage. They were later notified that the Midtown high-rise had been deemed uninhabitable and would likely remain closed for over a year.
Former Resident Judith Pruitt says this was only the tip of the iceberg.
"Each time you get a management group, the management groups didn't do the repairs properly. So every every year something else was going wrong," Pruitt said.
It had been her home for 18 years and ever since the middle of January she like many of the other residents has been shuttled around from hotel to hotel until a permanent solution can be found.
"It's a very nice building. I'm real sorry that this happened to our building and to the people here," Pruitt said.
"First and foremost, we want to make sure these individuals are treated fairly, reasonably, and made as whole as possible. What do I mean by whole? They have decent housing. They have somewhere at night to go lay their heads and not worry about someone knocking on the door at 2 or 3 a.m., telling them they have to get up and leave," Weaver said.
Heritage House management said it paid for residents to stay at the Hilton St. Louis Airport Hotel through Feb. 6 while local agencies provided breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The city of St. Louis said Monday that it had reserved 108 rooms for residents across three area hotels for residents to move to after their time ran out at the Hilton St. Louis. Residents would vary how long they plan to stay at the hotels as they look for alternative housing, the city said.
Conner Kerrigan, a spokesman for the city, said the mayor's office was coordinating public and private funds to pay for the residents' stay.
"The (Heritage House) board is not paying for any of this, despite telling residents they are paying for their stay at this Hilton St. Louis Airport the week of Jan. 30-Feb. 6," Kerrigan said.
Attorney Thayer Weaver said they’re representing 60 residents right now but this lawsuit is for all of the residents who’ve been wronged.
Weaver said through their investigation they've found these issues have been going on for years.
"These incidents began as early as 2019. And it will appear logical that as a maintenance company or the owner of property, that certain repairs and necessary repairs would have been made. Unfortunately, there was none," Weaver said.
The lawsuit said the plaintiffs and other displaced residents don't have the money to continue to pay for a hotel room and could face homelessness in a matter of 24 hours.
"No monetary damages could remedy this violation. Therefore, there is no adequate remedy at law," the lawsuit said. "Plaintiffs, and all those similarly situated, face irreparable harm unless the Court orders Defendants to provide Plaintiffs, and all those similarly situated, with habitable housing through and including December 31, 2024."