COLUMBUS – The city of Columbus is going after an Illinois-based company, seeking the largest monetary damages in city history for health and safety violations at the company’s three apartment complexes.
The largest public nuisance lawsuit on record, filed in the Franklin County Environmental Court against AMG Realty Group and its founder, Adam M. Glickman, cites an “extensive history of continued violations” of city housing, nuisance abatement; and health, sanitation and safety codes at the company’s multi-building apartment complexes, and levies $75,000 in fines, according to the office of Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein.
“We already have evidence of harm and injury to our residents, so it’s imperative for us to get every one of AMG’s apartments under court order to force them to take their tenants’ safety seriously and maintain all 802 units in full compliance with the law,” Klein said
The complaint cites over 150 violations in the Mayfair Apartments, Hartford on the Lake, and Fitzroy Apartments – all on the city’s east side – documented since March 2017, including extensive water damage, an inoperable furnace, damaged walls and ceilings, mold growth, clogged drains, light fixtures hanging from wires, loose and missing handrails, bug, rodent, and roach infestations and a multitude of electrical issues such as bare and exposed wiring.
The complaints include a case reported by the media in which a ceiling collapsed onto a tenant at one of the units in the Mayfair Village apartment complex and another involving a tenant who was injured in a stairwell at the Hartford on the Lake complex
The complaint demands AMG pay $75,000 in fines, the largest amount ever levied against a violator and a figure which could increase at the rate of $1,000 per day, Klein said. The fines began adding up when AMG failed to remedy the violations by a May 25 deadline.