Amanda Bonnen's Twitter page, captured last Monday before it went down.
Last week, news of Horizon Realty's lawsuit against former tenant Amanda Bonnen broke on this blog and went viral, spreading across the blogosphere and making national and international headlines.
Shortly after, the company responded with a press release, defending its decision to sue over Bonnen's tweet by invoking a timeless rationale that goes something like this (and I paraphrase):
... She started it.
As in, Bonnen sued first. In the press release, they called her June 24th lawsuit "completely baseless," and an attempt to manipulate the Chicago Residential Landlord Tenant Ordinance.
Hm, okay...
So I put in a request with the Circuit Court of Cook County to get a copy of the class action complaint. Today, I finally got my hands on it.
Bonnen's lawsuit actually has nothing to do with mold. In it, she alleges two things against her former landlords:
Baseless manipulation? That's according to Horizon, but take a peek at the complaint and decide for yourself. -
Bonnen v Horizon Realty.pdf
1 Comment
Paul Bernstein said:
The lawsuit in this matter is typical of class actions for security deposit violations. The Ordinances of the City of Chicago require interest to be paid on security deposits of tenants (unless the specific rental is NOT covered by the Ordinance), every twelve months of occupancy. Also, the law requires that a SUMMARY of the RLTO be provided to all covered residential units in Chicago. So, although I do not know the actual facts in this matter, the allegatioins seem well taken and consistent with the law.
It is amazing, in today's day and age, in that the Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance ("RLTO") was adopted by the City of Chicago in 1986, that there are still landlords and management companies that do not just comply with the requirements of the law.
Copies of the RLTO can be found on many locations, including the web-site of the Metropolitan Tenants Organization, a tax-exempt Not-For-Profit company that helps tenants in Chicago and throughout Cook County - their web site is at:
http://www.tenants-rights.org
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