By: Hellen Zaboulani
A Baltimore judge has ruled in favor of an apartment company owed by Jared Kushner’s family in a lawsuit that claimed the company charged excessive fees.
As reported by VIN News, on Thursday January 9th, Baltimore Circuit Judge Philip Jackson granted a motion for summary judgement in a lawsuit filed by five tenants against Westminster Management, a division of Kushner Cos, belonging to the family of Jared Kushner, White House adviser and son-in-law to President Trump. The Baltimore Sun reported, that in a one-page order, the judge ruled that the tenants’ case should not proceed. Jackson did commend both the tenants and company for “exhaustive and excellent submissions.”
Westminster’s attorney, Michael Blumenfeld, hailed the decisions saying, “It is good to see that the law and justice prevail over political motivations and personal agendas.” In the lawsuit, the tenants had filed a complaint holding that the company was in violation of the Maryland law which limits landlords to charge no more than 5 percent on top of late rent payments. Andrew Freeman, attorney for the tenants, said his clients were charged 5 percent if rent was more than five days late. On top of that, Freeman alleged that the company also charged additional agent fees and summons fees linked to litigating for the lack of payment. “These are working-class tenants. Nobody wants to be late on their rent. But if they are in a hard place and they are late, the landlord is entitled to charge a 5% late fee. That is supposed to cover all of the costs associated with collecting late rent. Yet they’ve been adding in various other fees,” Freeman said. The management company contested those claims and the judge agreed.
Freeman said that his client will be appealing the decision. Westminster Management also still faces a lawsuit from Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, who says the company is taking advantage of low- and middle-income families and “violated numerous consumer protection laws”. The case in question refers to roughly 9,000 rental units throughout Baltimore City, Baltimore and Prince George’s counties.
“We refuse to be extorted by an ambitious Attorney General who clearly cares more about scoring political points than fighting real crime and improving the lives of the people of Maryland,” Laurent Morali, the president of the Kushner Cos., responded in October. “We look forward to defending ourselves against these bogus allegations.” He added that the company is proud of its Baltimore-area apartments and has invested “substantial amounts” in maintaining them.
