Tenants Sue Legacy Partners for Privacy Violations

As former prospective tenants continue filing lawsuits against the management arm of the late Sam Zell’s firm Equity Residential, a group of tenants has now filed a similar suit against the Bay Area-based firm Legacy Partners.

The suit against Legacy was filed late last month in L.A. County. The plaintiffs are a group of 19 prospective tenants who applied to live at four different apartment buildings in North Hollywood, Woodland Hills, Los Angeles and Chula Vista. Similar to earlier allegations against Equity Residential, the residents are accusing their would-be landlord, Legacy, of violating their privacy during the application process by secretly obtaining investigative consumer reports — a form of detailed background check, often created by interviewing associates, that typically outlines non-public information such as the applicants’ character, reputation and lifestyle.

The plaintiffs are seeking statutory damages of $20,000 each, plus punitive damages and court orders for Legacy to change its practices and deliver them copies of the reports, among other demands.

Under California law landlords who wish to carry out those reports have to follow strict requirements, such as notifying the applicant and providing copies, if requested, so the applicant can correct false information.

But while Legacy included a release form as part of the tenants’ applications that stated the management company “would screen for criminal background and previous evictions,” the firm also blatantly violated the rules around the more detailed investigative consumer reports, the suit alleges.

Legacy “concealed from Plaintiffs the nature and type of the investigative consumer reports they would procure about the Plaintiffs, the date the reports would be procured, the entity or entities which would provide the reports, and Plaintiffs’ rights regarding investigative consumer reports,” the suit states.

There are also claims that Legacy procured at least two investigative reports about each would-be tenant, and that the landlord knew of the rules around acquiring the reports but procured them anyway, orchestrating what the suit calls “deliberate planned violations of the ICRAA” — the California law that regulates the investigative report process.

A representative for Legacy did not respond to a request for comment. The firm, which says it has developed more than 78,000 apartment units and manages over 50 complexes, is headquartered in Foster City, California, in San Mateo County, and also has regional offices in Dallas, Denver, Orange County, Orlando and Greater Seattle.

The tenants who are alleging the violations applied for their apartments in 2021 at the Avalyn Apartments in Chula Vista, the 7950 West Sunset Apartments in L.A., the Piedmont Senior Apartments in North Hollywood and the Triana Apartments in Woodland Hills.

The suit against Legacy comes as nearly identical allegations, brought by the same law firm, continue to surface against Equity Residential. One group of tenants filed a suit against that firm last August, and since then several more legal complaints have followed from tenants at different buildings around Southern California, including some that were filed this month.