Prominent Los Angeles landlord Geoffrey Palmer has agreed to pay $12.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing his company of withholding security deposits from more than 19,000 tenants when they moved out of his apartment complexes.
The proposed settlement, which goes before Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Elihu M. Berle on July 18 for preliminary approval, could mark the end of a four-year legal battle that has pitted tenants against Palmer's company, GHP Management Corp.
Court documents alleged the company — a subsidiary of G.H. Palmer Associates, one of the largest landlords in Southern California with more than 15,000 apartments in 23 Southern California complexes — withheld security deposits for years from thousands of tenants by charging repair and cleaning fees without properly notifying residents.
