A Jacksonville woman went up against a major local landlord in court, and in the process, helped secure a class action settlement agreement worth more than half a million dollars, her attorneys said.
Arlie Conner and her attorneys filed a class action lawsuit against local property management company JWB in 2021, alleging the company charged renters improper fees.
JWB manages more than 5,000 rental properties in Northeast Florida. Most of the initial allegations made in the class action suit were dropped, but the one that stuck could mean savings for hundreds of local families.
Although a settlement has been worked out, JWB denies any wrongdoing.
By the time Arlie Conner moved out of a JWB-managed rental property in 2021, she said she’d had enough of her landlords.
Conner told News4JAX the company originally told her she could stay in the home through the month of June, as she was preparing to move into the house she’d bought, but about midway through the month, she said, they locked her out, demanded a full month’s rent, plus about $5,500 in fees, coming to a total of more than $7,000. She said she left the place in good shape.
“I felt violated,” she said. “I felt powerless. I felt sad… I was in an okay, position financially, but it made me think about people that you’re doing this to that are not.”
She said she did not pay the fees, instead turning to Jacksonville Beach consumer attorneys Max Story and Austin Griffin.
“We take on a lot of these tenant cases because of the affordable housing crisis and the skyrocketing rents in Jacksonville and Florida all over,” Story said.
In November of 2021, they filed a class action suit making several allegations against JWB regarding tenant fees.
“I wanted him to go in, both barrels loaded guns a-blazing, to show them that they can’t just pick on people because they feel like they have them in a spot between a rock and a hard place,” she said.
Close to two years later, just one of the allegations in the class action case has stuck: the plaintiffs accused JWB of charging tenants facing eviction a fee of $500 to cover what JWB paid to file eviction papers in court, when it actually costs $198 to file those papers.
“Their defense was, they hired a certain eviction law firm that charged $500 per case…that included attorneys fees, and everything else,” Griffin said.
The distinction wasn’t clear in the line item Conner said she received from JWB.
JWB agreed to a settlement in recent weeks, telling News4JAX Tuesday:
“JWB was involved in a lawsuit stemming from the specific wording from an intent to claim form regarding cost of court filings for several former tenants. At all times, JWB has striven to act in accordance with state and federal law governing residential leases. While JWB denies any wrongdoing, we believe the settlement agreement is in the best interest [of] our team and former residents.”
The plaintiffs told News4JAX the settlement agreement provides $592,000 in debt forgiveness for about 380 people who owe JWB for these and other fees. They expect that to happen automatically after a hearing about the settlement in December.
“These are going to be like beautiful Christmas gifts for people, because I’m pretty sure there are families out there that are having trouble finding a decent place to live because they either have it on their credit or it’s hindering them in some form,” Conner said.
Conner also won a $10,000 settlement, including for collection complaints related to her case, Griffin said.
JWB has not admitted to any wrongdoing in the class action complaint. In the settlement agreement, they say they vigorously deny all of the claims and allegations raised in the class action lawsuit.
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