Tenants awarded summary judgement against Mount Vernon Group LLC over substandard housing
SOMERSET COUNTY, Md – Maryland Legal Aid is celebrating a victory for their clients, with a Somerset County Circuit Court awarding summary judgment against Mount Vernon Group LLC and operator Eric Sessoms for operating two units with major violations and without a license.
“This is a huge win for our tenants because we’re showing, you know, we’re not going to back down and we’re going to represent and fiercely advocate for our clients to have safe, habitable housing that they deserve,” said Attorney Jamie Miliman of MD Legal Aid.
The court sustained 4 complaints of 5 against the housing group finding that they operated without a license, charged illegal security deposits as well as enforced actions for non-payment and eviction against the two tenants, and engaged in deceptive practices with listing the units.
Miliman tells 47ABC the units were both in conditions so poor they would have not passed licensing but were found to have still listed them.
“There were bedbugs. There still are bedbugs. There were plumbing issues. It looked like there were also some types of electrical issues as well,” she said adding “he knew that they had code violations, he knew they had safety violations, and yet he still rented them out.”
Miliman tells 47ABC that it’s rare for a case like this to go to summary judgment, a testament to the facts of the case, and the damage suffered by the tenants.
“Not only did the court find that Mount Vernon Group violated the Consumer Protection Act, but it also found Mr. Sessoms personally liable under that count, meaning that they were found to be responsible, that they were found to have committed those violations,” she said.
The court did however leave it up to a jury to decide if actions to evict and report non-payment against the two women who resided in Princess Anne and Crisfield respectively constituted retaliation.
That determination as well as the assignment of damages will happen in a future court date later this spring.
” I can’t wait to get to trial and expose for the public, all of Mr. Sessom’s wrongdoing before the community so they can see what’s been done here,” Miliman said adding “There’s a lot of properties that they own and so this should be a warning to landlords, don’t do that.”
