St. Clair County Circuit Judge Vincent Lopinot scheduled a status conference for Dec. 9 at 9 a.m. in a Belleville man’s class action lawsuit against managers of an apartment complex who allegedly failed to pay interest on security deposits.
Plaintiff Kyle Oller filed a class action lawsuit individually and on behalf of a group of others last year against Concord Management Ltd. The lawsuit proposed to include a class of all of the defendant’s tenants since 2002 who paid a deposit and were not paid interest.
According to the two-count complaint, Oller signed a year-to-year lease for a two-bedroom unit at the Fairfield Place Apartment Complex in O'Fallon in 2007, which required a security deposit.
Oller argues in the complaint that the state Security Deposit Interest Act mandates that any company collecting security deposits on a complex containing 25 or more units and holds that deposit for more than six months must pay interest to the tenant on that deposit.
According to the complaint, Concord allegedly kept Oller’s deposit for longer than six months but failed to pay interest on that deposit.
The defendants filed a motion to dismiss the case on Oct. 5, 2012, arguing that the statute of limitations implies that plaintiffs have two years to file a claim under the Act. Lopinot denied the motion for dismissal on March 13.
The defendants followed the denial with a motion to reconsider on April 15. The motion states that the court never did say whether or not the statute applied and continues to say the two year statute supports their reasoning for dismissal. Concord also stated that if the case is not dismissed, it requests a petition for leave to file an appeal to the appellate court.
The proposed class is represented by David I. Cates of Swansea.
Concord Management Ltd. is represented by Robert Sprague of Belleville.
St. Clair County Circuit Court case number 12-L-442
Class action over renters’ security deposits in court
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