New lawsuit claims developer Geoff Palmer wrongly kept tenants’ security deposits

Downtown developer Geoff Palmer was named today in a lawsuit alleging he kept millions of dollars in security deposits that should have been returned to his tenants, reports NBC 4.

The lawsuit, filed by San Diego-based lawyer Jimmie Davis Parker, claims that the billionaire developer of such projects as the Orsini, the Da Vinci, the Medici, and the forthcoming Ferrante “systematically and in bad faith, retained security deposits by failing to properly document the work that they charge tenants for when they move out,” Parker told NBC.

Palmer did this, the lawsuit claims, by charging tenants for generic repairs after they had vacated their apartments. Bills for work done on the apartments would use “unlawfully vague descriptions” of the repairs that were done—referring to a “maintenance charge” or “cleaning charge,” instead of the detailed explanations of work that state law requires.

Palmer’s company, G.H. Palmer and Associates, owns thousands of apartments throughout Downtown LA, and more than 10,000 units across Southern California. Palmer is working now on building 1,500 units on a 10-acre lot bounded by Temple, Beaudry, and the 110 Freeway.

NBC says that more than two dozen former tenants of Palmer’s properties have filed small claims suits against Palmer for “keeping deposits and unwarranted charges” after they left their apartments. Parker is seeking to certify the case as a class action lawsuit.

For the full story, head over to NBC.

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