Victim Sues Owner of Apartments Over Rape

When 24-year-old Laurel W. moved out of her apartment, she explained simply in her written notice: “Do not feel safe here anymore.”

Earlier that day, a stranger had exposed himself in front of her. She fled in tears to the nearby home of her parents, who in turn demanded answers of the landlord about security.

Saying they were assured that the incident was an aberration within an otherwise safe residential complex, their daughter returned to her apartment three weeks later to finish moving out her belongings.

And then she was raped, allegedly by the same man.

The young woman has sued the owners of Corona Pointe Apartments, one of the largest complexes in Riverside, and the reason goes beyond alleged negligence for failing to provide sufficient security.

Citing patrol logs from the apartment owner’s security company, her lawyers are also charging that the landlord was well aware that a sexual predator was preying on young women living there--and that another woman had been raped in the complex several months earlier--but management did not warn tenants for fear they would move out.

An attorney for the apartment owners--RREEF America Reit Inc., a real estate investment trust that bought the complex just a few weeks before the first incident reported by Laurel H.--counters that company officials were unaware at the time of the sexual predator.

The case involves an area of law known as premises liability in which plaintiffs can seek damages from a business owner if, as customers of that business, they are a victim of a crime.

Last Thursday, in a premises liability case, the California Supreme Court ruled that a woman who was raped in a commercial parking garage lacking security could not obtain compensation in large part because the garage had been crime-free for 10 years.

The Riverside case “is entirely different,” said UCLA law professor Gary L. Blasi, “because there was actual knowledge of a dangerous condition” in the apartment complex, where one-bedroom units now rent from $650 to $670 a month.

After filing a lawsuit, attorneys for the victim discovered that the man who allegedly targeted her was suspected in a series of sex offenses in the 714-unit complex. His behavior, including multiple exposure incidents and other lewd acts, was well documented by the security company hired by the landlord, but the management did not warn tenants about him, court documents allege.

The apartment managers had “specific knowledge that there was a violent sexual predator repeatedly visiting the property to expose himself . . . and otherwise terrorize young women, all well before the sexual assault and rape of Laurel W. . . . and yet consciously decided to do nothing, not even warn,” according to court papers.

The company’s attorney, Barry Braitman, said the company was deeply saddened by the rape of Laurel, but declined additional comment about the litigation.

In court papers, the firm’s attorneys contend that the victim, more than anyone, should have known the risk of returning to the apartment because she had already been confronted by the suspect, and had been warned by Riverside police after that initial exposure incident to keep her doors and windows locked.

A month later, the rapist gained entrance to Laurel’s second-story apartment through the sliding door of her balcony, which she had opened for fresh air.

In their legal papers, the firm’s attorneys contended there was no relationship between Laurel’s rape and the owner’s alleged failure to warn of the predator’s presence.

The apartment owners “owed no duty of due care” to warn Laurel or other tenants of criminal activity on the premises, they contend.

Darlene Molnar, Corona Pointe’s then-on-site property manager, testified in a deposition that she was aware of the presence of a predator but said a company regional executive “did not want the residents notified at that time. He said that we were in the middle of a rent increase and that they had just taken over the property and he didn’t want a mass exodus and that he did not feel that the residents needed to be notified.”

In his own deposition, the executive denied having any such conversation with Molnar.

After the rape, the apartment management distributed a flier that made no specific reference to the rape: “We would like to inform you that an assault has occurred in the apartment community. The Police Department can be contacted for further details.”

The rape of Laurel occurred in October 1996. A motion by the apartment owners to have her suit thrown out is scheduled for Jan. 3 in Riverside; if it is denied, the trial is expected to begin this summer.

The suspect in the case was never identified and “disappeared from the scene” a short time after Laurel was raped, Riverside police said.

To this day, people who call the apartment leasing office and ask about its crime history are referred to the Riverside Police Department.

The department’s crimes analysis unit will print out a two-year history of “calls for service” at any particular address in the city, at a cost of $125.

The Police Department also sponsors a “Crime-Free Multi-Housing Program,” which instructs apartment tenants, managers and owners on various aspects of crime prevention.

The apartment complex management has not completed the program, said Riverside Police Sgt. Lisa Williams.

The question of how effectively apartment managers warn tenants about on-site criminal activity has been the subject of scores of tenant-landlord lawsuits over the years, according to Liability Consultants Inc. The Massachusetts company advises commercial property and apartment owners about liability issues and tracks industry litigation.

Apartment owners can successfully defend themselves from such lawsuits if they show they have provided “reasonable security measures” to guard against on-site criminal activity, said company Vice President Jon Groussman.

“Despite the fact that there may be crime on the premises, the apartment owners can say they responded reasonably and adjusted their security program accordingly,” Groussman said.

But if apartment owners who know of criminal activity “do nothing, stay silent and don’t give residents warning so they have the opportunity to be better prepared, that’s where they get in trouble,” he said.