Tenants To Split $1M In Insurance Company Cash In Suit Settlement Against Former Landlord Who Operated Unsafe, Pest/Mold-Infested 40-Unit Building

In Rancho Cordova, California, The Modesto Bee reports:

• The conditions were barely tolerable. Tenants living in the 40-unit Cordova Estates apartments in Rancho Cordova had to contend with cockroaches, bedbug infestations and balconies with failing floors. There were roof leaks, mold, damaged carpets, inadequate heat, dangerous gates on unpermitted laundry rooms and more.
  
  But in recent weeks, 99 people have become the latest tenants to win a legal settlement after being subjected to deplorable rental conditions. Jessica Rubio Munoz, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit filed on behalf of Cordova Estates' tenants, said she's pleased to receive her share of the money – close to $8,000.
  
  But she said the money can't fully compensate for the losses she and her family suffered while battling illnesses, infestations and mold. "My son was constantly in the hospital," she said. "He always had rashes." Her daughter developed a staph infection, she said.
  
  Munoz said she was about to move out last year when she heard about an attorney who would go to bat for besieged residents. Last fall, she contacted the lawyer, Robb Strom of Los Angeles.
  
  Strom filed suit in December in Sacramento Superior Court on behalf of the tenants. A settlement came last month: $1 million paid for by three insurance companies with policies on behalf of previous owners. Lawyers for the insurance companies did not return calls from The Bee.

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• On Friday, Strom went to the Jalisco Market on Folsom Boulevard, within walking distance of Cordova Estates, and began to distribute settlement checks.
  
  Adults will each net just under $8,000, Strom said. Children will net about $3,500 each. The rest, about $388,000, will cover court costs and legal fees, Strom said.
  
  Meanwhile, Strom said he has been contacted by about 20 more former Cordova Estates tenants who have requested that he file a follow-up lawsuit on their behalf. And he's close to filing a suit involving another substandard Rancho Cordova apartment complex.
  
  In 2010, Strom and another attorney sued owners of another Rancho Cordova complex, Carriage House, and reached a $1 million settlement in that case. The Carriage House has since changed ownership.

For the story, see Tenants win settlement over conditions at Rancho Cordova apartments.