NEW ORLEANS — A lawsuit against the owner of a controversial apartment complex in New Orleans East was filed recently in Civil District court.
The plaintiffs in the case are six tenants of the Willows apartment complex located at 7001 Lawrence Road.
The lawsuit is seeking class-action status and claims the owner, Tennessee-based Global Ministries Foundation, let the property become unsafe.
In a statement from the lawyer representing the six tenants, Patrick Young says his clients were forced to file the suit. He says the CEO of Global Ministries Foundation, Richard Hamlet, did not provide “habitable conditions for themselves and their families, housing free from hazardous conditions. Yet, this company, who holds itself out as a religious-based non-profit, has failed to address these conditions despite tenant complaints, citations of the City of New Orleans, outrage of City Council members, and local news media’s repeated coverage. We look forward to bringing this matter to the Court.”
Hamlet told WWL-TV Friday the lawsuit is “completely frivolous.”
“We will vigorously defend this,” said Hamlet. “When we file a countersuit to this attorney group, we will be asking for damages for the fake news.”
We asked Hamlet if he had seen the videos of the mold and roach-infested units that were at the center of these claims and if he would live in those conditions.
“No, I wouldn’t, but we're doing everything we can to correct those conditions,” he said. “You know I’m a minister of the gospel. I’m not God. We’re spending millions of dollars to try to bring this up.”
Hamlet blames Hurricane Ida and closures during the pandemic for putting delays in responding to tenants’ concerns.
“It’s only about 3 or 4 of the residents who have been not very happy there for a while who could leave anytime,” he said. “They choose to live there.”
Davida Finger, the director of Loyola University’s Law Clinic, says there is no excuse for maintaining an uninhabitable property.
“It’s very insulting to say that ‘we can maintain a property any which way we want to’ because tenants can live someplace else,” said Finger. “That is just flatly not the case.”
Finger says tenants in New Orleans do not have affordable options to choose from.
“There are no places for tenants to move,” she said. “The sheer moving costs alone are prohibitive for many tenants.”
Also named in the lawsuit is the Housing Authority of New Orleans. In an email sent to WWL-TV, a representative of HANO declined to comment on the suit because “we have not been served.”
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