Landlord's Alleged Failure To Fork Over Interest On Ex-Tenant's Security Deposit Leads To $24M Lawsuit Seeking Class Action Status

In New York City, the New York Post reports:

• A former Manhattan resident has slapped his ex-landlord with a $24 million suit over the interest on the security deposit he put down for a plush, rent-stabilized pad on the Upper East Side nearly 40 years ago.
  
  John Sacchi, 63, claims Elyachar Properties refused to hand over the interest after he moved out of 1100 Madison Ave. and relocated to New Jersey in 2012 after suffering a stroke.
  
  Sacchi, who worked as a colorist at the tony Pierre Michel hair salon, last paid a little more than $1,800 a month for a spacious, one-bedroom apartment on the 10th floor of the building, which is about a block from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  
  His lawyer, Stephen Simoni, said the accrued interest on Saachi’s 1975 security deposit exceeded $10,000.
  
  Sacchi’s Manhattan federal-court suit seeks damages for himself and potentially thousands of other ex-tenants at 1100 Madison and two other East Side buildings that Elyachar owns, on grounds including fraud and breach of fiduciary duty.
  
  Elyachar lawyer Alan Friedman said the company has the canceled checks showing that Sacchi got interest payments on his security deposit, and noted that he was allowed to occupy his apartment, rent-free, for two weeks after breaking his lease.Friedman also added the company Friday mailed Saachi a check for about $1,000 for “every speck of interest” he could possibly claim he’s owed.

Source: $24M conflict of ‘interest’.