Editorials

A year later, many families have not been compensated in $1.3 million fraud, breach of contract lawsuit against landlords 

NAPA — A legal group that helped 120 low-income Napa families win $1.3 million in a lawsuit against their landlord has sued another law firm that was supposed to administer the trust fund from which the families were to be paid. 

Legal Aid of Napa’s suit against San Francisco’s Tehin and Partners accuses the San Francisco firm of fraud, breach of contract, negligence and converting client money to other uses. The Napa group says that a year after the victory, most of the residents still have not gotten their money. 

James Krieg, an attorney representing Tehin and Partners, said he thinks the suit has no substance to it. 

Krieg said Tehin decided to dispense the settlement checks directly to families instead of using Legal Aid, and that families who go to the Tehin law office in San Francisco can get their money and that some have. 

The settlement agreement called for Legal Aid to hand out the checks, which range from $3,000 to $13,000, with the average slightly more than $10,000. 

The full settlement was $2 million, and about $700,000 of that was for attorneys fees, which went to Tehin, and Tehin in turn gave Legal Aid a donation. Legal Aid is asking that Tehin give up the fees as well as pay punitive damages to Legal Aid. 

The families sued landlord Ed Keith in 1999 alleging some of his apartment complexes violated state habitability standards. Keith admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement with the tenants.