City Sues Owners for Harassment Campaign

By Jorge Casuso

May 21 -- Three men charged with mounting a “systematic” months-long campaign of daily harassment to force a disabled tenant out of her rent-controlled unit could face fines of $20,000 each under a civil lawsuit filed by the City this week.

The disabled woman – who had been living in her $422-a-month apartment for more than 20 years -- was the only tenant in the four-unit building at 2710 Arizona Avenue when it was bought in January by the three defendants, Marshall Robert Burnett, Daniel Kolodziejski and L.T. Belton.

The men are accused of conspiring to frighten the lone tenant into vacating her unit in order to increase the property value of the building, which the previous owner had tried to take out of the rental market.

“Over the years, we’ve heard reports and rumors about landlords putting in a designated bad guy to make life miserable for tenants,” said Deputy City Attorney Adam Radinsky, who is in charge of the Consumer Affairs Division.

“But until now, we haven’t had significant proof,” Radinsky said. “We’ve never heard allegations of something this methodical or systematic.”

The suit charges that the men installed Belton as the "manager" in the apartment next door to the woman's “for the sole purpose of making her life miserable,” Radinsky said.

Belton allegedly called the tenant profane and insulting names, threatened to burn down the building while she was inside, flooded her kitchen floor with a hose and regularly pounded on her walls and slammed doors late at night.

The suit -- filed in Santa Monica Superior Court under the local Tenant Harassment Ordinance -- alleges that Belton also regularly stood outside the tenant’s door or window for long periods of time and broke into her private locked storage area.

Burnett and Kolodziejski -- who are both licensed realtors -- are also accused of refusing to perform needed repairs to the woman's apartment and refusing to accept her rent payment and then claiming that she hadn't paid rent.

If found liable, the defendants face up to $1,000 in fines for each of the more than 20 incidents alleged. The City is also seeking punitive damages based in part on the defendants' net worth and the nature of the wrongdoing.

"This case shows the depths to which some people will go to try to get their low-rent tenants out," said Deputy City Attorney Adam Radinsky. "The City of Santa Monica will not tolerate the abusing of tenants for the sake of a quick profit."