Pulman, Cappuccio & Pullen, LLP: Sickened Military Families Accuse Hunt Military Communities of Fraud
Lawsuit: Mold and pest infestations persist in privatized Air Force housing
SAN ANTONIO, Oct. 29, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- A group of U.S. Air Force families alleges that toxic, mold- and pest-infested housing at two Texas air force bases sickened them because Hunt Military Communities systematically under-maintained the privatized housing and defrauded the families about remediation efforts, according to a lawsuit filed today by Pulman, Cappuccio & Pullen, LLP and co-counsel.
The eight families suing Hunt Military Communities have lived or currently live in base housing at Randolph Air Force Base, near San Antonio, Texas, or at Laughlin Air Force Base, near Del Rio, Texas. According to the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in San Antonio, Hunt Military Communities:
- systematically under-maintained the military housing;
- subjected service-members and their families to atrocious conditions, including pervasive mold that sickened them and destroyed their possessions;
- utilized substandard service providers to allegedly remediate the mold problems;
- subjected service-members and their families to pest infestations, and;
- misled tenants about the remediation actions allegedly undertaken.
The families are represented by Randall A. Pulman and Ryan C. Reed, of Pulman, Cappuccio & Pullen, LLP, in San Antonio; and James R. Moriarty of the Law Offices of James R. Moriarty, in Houston.
The lawsuit alleges, "Service-members have discovered mold growing on their children's toys and toothpaste, taking over walls, and blackening the interior of ductwork. When Hunt received maintenance requests from service-members and their families, Hunt would misdiagnose the issue, utilize substandard service providers to allegedly remediate the problems, and mislead its tenants about the remediation actions allegedly undertaken. Most notably, Hunt's representatives frequently would simply paint over existing mold and exclaim 'Problem Solved!'"
The defendants in the case are AETC II Privatized Housing, LLC, AETC II Property Managers, LLC, and Hunt ELP, Ltd., doing business as Hunt Military Communities. The lawsuit alleges deceptive trade practices, breach of implied warranty of habitability, breach of contract, negligence and negligent misrepresentation, statutory fraud in a real estate transaction, and common law fraud by the defendants.
Ryan C. Reed, of Pulman, Cappuccio & Pullen, LLP, said, "For more than a decade, we allege, Hunt Military Communities has leased houses to service-members and their families stationed at these bases, happily taking all of their base housing allowance, while subjecting them to atrocious living conditions and misleading them about remediation actions allegedly undertaken."
In 2007, according to the lawsuit, the U.S. Air Force executed a 50-year lease to Hunt Military Housing's AETC II Privatized Housing, LLC for management of the service-member housing sections of Randolph Air Force Base and Laughlin Air Force Base.
James R. Moriarty, of the Law Offices of James R. Moriarty, said, "Hunt utilized its relationship with the military, and the families' relatively weaker economic position, to hold the families hostage in their leases until they received orders stationing them elsewhere. Meanwhile, Hunt obtained the full amount of the families' base housing allowance directly from the federal government, giving the families no discount for the quality or condition of their housing."
The case is "Michael J. Daniels and Barbara High-Daniels, et al., v. AETC II Privatized Housing, LLC, et al.," No. 5:19-cv-01280 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division.
CONTACT: Erin Powers, Powers MediaWorks LLC, for Pulman, Cappuccio & Pullen, LLP, 281.703.6000, [email protected]
SOURCE Pulman, Cappuccio & Pullen, LLP
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