Tenants Turn to ICLC After Injuries in Building Collapse

You should not have to worry about losing your home while you sleep, but that is precisely what happened to Ms. Alvarez and her children. As the family were asleep in their beds one night, their apartment building in Koreatown collapsed. Ms. Alvarez’s bed fell from the second story to the basement and she was seriously injured.

Inner City Law Center attorneys negotiated on behalf of the Alvarez family and the other tenants, until the owner agreed to provide the family with two month’s stay in a hotel, $100 per diem, and another $17,000 to assist with their relocation. They have since moved to a safer apartment building.

Though responsibility for the collapse has not yet been established, ICLC maintains that the owner knowingly ignored the underlying water leaks and structural damage that appear to have led to the collapse. ICLC recently filed a civil habitability lawsuit on behalf of the Alvarez family and the other residents, and ICLC has also assisted the City Attorney, who is criminally prosecuting the owner.