Ex-Apartment Tenants Win $492,220 in Suit

More than four years after torrential rains inundated their homes, 24 former residents of an Encino apartment complex were awarded nearly half a million dollars this week by a jury that found their landlord did not properly fix the mess.

After a three-week trial in Van Nuys, the former tenants were awarded on Thursday a total of $492,220 for property damage and emotional distress that stemmed from heavy rains in February, 1991. Individual awards ranged from $7,500 to $45,000, said V. James De Simone, a Venice attorney who represented many of the tenants.

Other residents either settled their claims against the building owner earlier or withdrew from the case.

The roof of the complex in the 5300 block of Yarmouth Avenue was torn out to be replaced just days before one of the heaviest rainstorms in Los Angeles history. When more than three inches of rain fell in two days, residents of the 27-unit complex were left without protection.

Owner Richard A. Gleitman said at the time that the roof was in such bad shape that repairs could not wait until the end of the rainy season, when most roofing work is done.

Workers had removed the roof’s protective pitch surface, leaving behind only a thin layer of plywood and plaster. When rain was forecast, the roofing crews tried to cover the building with plastic. But gusty winds created openings for the rain to pour in.

Many tenants suffered severe water damage to their possessions, and some were left temporarily homeless after the complex was declared uninhabitable by Los Angeles building officials. The tenants alleged Gleitman lied about relocation assistance and then turned a deaf ear to their problems.

“It’s been a long 4 1/2 years, kiddo,” said former resident Donna Tokarsky, who added that she will use her share of the award to move herself and her elderly parents to Las Vegas. “It’s enough to get me moved, to settle down and get a life together and start all over again.”

Other former residents on Friday said the incident left them with debts and emotional scars.

Jim Brenner still carries a $15,000 balance on his credit cards--the result, he said, of living in hotels for several months after his apartment was ruined. Unemployed at the time, Brenner was working on free-lance writing projects that ended up “in a puddle.”

Unable to rent another apartment without a job, Brenner charged hotel rooms on his credit cards. “Essentially, I was homeless with credit,” he said, adding that he will use the award money to “pay off bills and get on with the rest of my life--and fortunately it looks very bright and cheerful.”

He has since found a new job and gotten married.

Newport Beach attorney Jim Wakefield, who defended the case for Gleitman’s insurance company, said Gleitman tried to accommodate the tenants but was overwhelmed himself by a string of bad luck.

Gleitman won a $1-million judgment against the roofer performing the work. But the roofer went bankrupt and his insurance company refused to pay, Wakefield said. “So it was up to us,” he said.

If the roofer’s insurance company had paid the judgment, “this case would have been settled a long time ago,” Wakefield said. He lamented that “the primary party responsible for all of this, the roofer, has gotten off scot-free.”

Gleitman, meanwhile, was so short of cash that he had to persuade his own insurance company to fund repairs to the building, which reopened several months later, Wakefield said. The building has since been sold.

None of the tenants involved in the litigation have returned.

Former resident Patricia Kossitch said she still misses the friendly neighbors she came to know after 15 years in Apartment 17. The last four years, she said, have been difficult as she and her mother have slowly replaced furniture and clothing ruined by water and settled back into a comfortable routine.

Kossitch, who now lives in El Segundo, said, “We finally can put this out of our lives.”