Slumlord Award
This Week In Blunders – March 9-15
Here’s a massive blunder you don’t see every day: A nationwide apartment management company and one of its complex owners just lost a $13.5 million slumlord lawsuit to tenants.
Tenants at the Mint Urban Infinity apartment complex at 1251 S. Bellaire St. in Glendale, Colo., came armed with a long list of complaints: Inoperable elevators, cockroach infestations, no hot water, broken air conditioners, insecure entry doors, trespassers and even homeless people sleeping in the halls.
On Thursday, they won what is believed to be the first class-action lawsuit for violating Colorado’s warranty of habitability laws – and perhaps one of the first in the nation.
An estimated 2,000 tenants will share in a judgement that will be delivered as a 31.42% monthly rent reduction – a payout estimated to total between $13 million and $15 million.
This is far bigger than the judgments that Business Blunders has recently covered against landlords who sexually harass their tenants.
The defendants have 60 days to appeal the verdict. But as it stands now, this case sets a nasty precedent for slumlords in Colorado and other states with similar laws protecting tenants.
It’s particularly embarrassing for Cardinal Group Companies which touts 52,700 units in 38 states on its website.
The Denver-based property manager blamed the owner of the property, Glendale Properties I and II. And for its part, Glendale Properties has argued that it has always been responsive to the complex's needs.
Cardinal Group didn’t do itself any favors in a statement it released to media following the verdict:
“We are disappointed in the outcome. Our team worked incredibly hard to maintain this property in the face of outstanding obstruction by the owner. This verdict does not reflect the hard work and diligence they put in every day. We have a track record of diligent operations that cares for the 100,000 people we provide housing to each year. We also believe that this outcome will have a material adverse impact on affordable housing in Denver. Providers will look to other cities as the state of Colorado is becoming an incredibly difficult state to invest in."
(Wah! Wah! Wah! This is just going to make it harder to find affordable housing and Cardinal might have to leave Colorado.)
Clearly, this company has a problem with communications. Its response practically advertises that it’s a proud slumlord. And here’s what it calls its secret ingredient on its website:
“It’s about achieving the improbable with fewer people and fewer resources.”
Yeah? And how’s that we-do-more-with-less thing working out?
How not to get rich
Consumers lost more than $12.5 billion to fraud in 2024, a 25% increase over 2023, according to the latest numbers released by the Federal Trade Commission this week.
This is just what’s been reported. Fraud victims often suck it up and keep quiet out of embarrassment – especially when they’re taken in ridiculous investment schemes.
Investment scams were the biggest category for fraud losses in 2024, totaling $5.7 billion, a 24% increase over 2023. The second-highest category was imposter scams, with $2.95 billion reported losses
Watch your bank transfers, get second opinions on your investments, beware of narcissists and sociopaths and keep reading Business Blunders. If you think you can’t be duped, you may be the next dupe.
Starbucks hit with astronomical judgement
Full discloser: I write most Business Blunders from Starbucks. I know, it’s a complete capitulation to the consumerism I profess to detest, and yet it’s my thing. Like everyone else, I am trapped.
Never has anyone at Starbucks spilled a hot drink on my lap or anywhere else. I never thought it might be a $50 million blunder.
Last week, a California delivery driver won a $50 million judgement against the coffee conglomerate for spilling hot tea on his lap and severely burning his genitals. This is orders of magnitude greater than the infamous 1990s case of spilled coffee at a McDonald’s drive-through.
The $3 million award was eventually deemed excessive and reduced to $600,000. It was lampooned in a Seinfeld episode with Kramer winning free coffee for life and turning into an even more jittery doofus.
It’s amazing that such a common mistake by an hourly employee could cost a company $50 million.
Drinks spill. It’s a fundamental law of gravity.
[[[For Paid Subscribers: The Business Blunders Hall of Shame]]]
Newsmax ponies up for election lies
Newsmax has paid $40 million to Smartmatic for allegedly defaming the voting machine company, according to a regulatory filing this week.
Smartmatic’s lawsuit charged that Newsmax reported false claims that it helped rig the 2020 U.S. election for Joe Biden. The lawsuit was settled last year, but the amount was undisclosed until the latest filing.
“Allegations regarding whether the [2020 U.S. presidential election] and its results were somehow altered or manipulated by Smartmatic are factually false/untrue,” Newsmax said in a statement.
In a pending case, Smartmatic has also sued Fox News for $2.7 billion. “Smartmatic will not stop until the perpetrators are held accountable,” the company has said in a statement.
Last year, Fox agreed to settle a similar defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million – perhaps the biggest defamation settlement by a U.S. media company. The case exposed Fox News as an entertainment channel, not a news channel.
The First Amendment apparently preserves the right to spew all the bullshit you like, but if it causes financial damages, and a defendant has the legal resources to prove it, watch out.
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Hi Al,
Good one! Also hope you'll let us know when a reason is found for the abrupt dismissal of the CEO of Kroger. We're wondering.
This right here earned you a subscriber. LOL "I write most Business Blunders from Starbucks. I know, it’s a complete capitulation to the consumerism I profess to detest, and yet it’s my thing. Like everyone else, I am trapped."