51黑料

His client is Regina Wingo. She is a Black single mom who works as a clerk for 51黑料 County. Wingo is suing her former landlord, the owner of the Hathaway Village Apartments in north 51黑料 County, and the apartment manager because when she was evicted in November 2019, the landlord wouldn鈥檛 let her back into the apartment to get all her stuff. She lost all her possessions, her kids鈥� possessions, family heirlooms, her car.

鈥淚f ever there was a case of a landlord who has acted in wanton, willful or malicious fashion, it is this case,鈥� Voytas told 51黑料 County Circuit Judge Kristine Kerr, who held a virtual hearing on the case last week. 鈥淪he gets a 51黑料 County police officer to come with her to try to retrieve her property, and the landlord stands there and says, 鈥楴ope.鈥欌��

Wingo, whose dispute with Baumann Property Co. was the subject of a column I wrote earlier this year, doesn鈥檛 question that the landlord had the right to evict her. She was behind on rent. This was before the pandemic eviction moratoriums.

鈥淭he question is whether eviction equals 鈥榶ou lose all your stuff,鈥欌�� Voytas told Kerr. 鈥淣owhere in the consent judgment does it talk about Ms. Wingo losing all of her property. That can鈥檛 be the way that we treat people.鈥�

This is something that happens to poor people in 51黑料 far too often. Eviction is difficult enough and creates lasting legal problems, but there are far too numerous examples in the 51黑料 region of people who are evicted also losing what few personal possessions they have. It鈥檚 one reason why the city of 51黑料 passed an ordinance a couple of years ago making it a crime for landlords to lock out renters without going through the proper due process of an eviction proceeding.

Kerr was hearing motions from the defendants in the Wingo case asking the judge to rule in their favor on summary judgment. The arguments from the attorneys for the building鈥檚 owner and its management company offer a case study in how difficult it is for tenants who live in poverty to deal with eviction in the 51黑料 region.

鈥淭here鈥檚 no evidence that they stole or looted the personal property of the plaintiff,鈥� argued attorney Carolyn Geoghegan, who represents Baumann Property Co. and the manager of the property, Ebony Johnson. They argue they had every right to confiscate Wingo鈥檚 possessions under the terms of the lease.

Another attorney, Christopher Staley, represents the owners of the building, a company called 4SH Hathaway Village. The company鈥檚 investors pay Baumann to manage the property. Staley argued those investors have no liability, even if the eviction was botched.

Kerr has yet to rule on the motions. Even if Wingo wins, her case won鈥檛 go to trial until 2023 at the earliest because of a backup in court cases. The chips are stacked against her.

In fact, that became obvious about a month after she filed her lawsuit. That鈥檚 when Baumann Property Co., which is owned by Herbert Baumann, from the federal government worth $395,400. The loan was intended to keep the company鈥檚 payroll going during the pandemic, when many renters couldn鈥檛 afford their monthly payments.

A year after Baumann Property Co. received its aid from the federal government, the company filed a lawsuit against another Black woman in 51黑料, for passing flyers around at various properties managed by the landlord, informing renters of the availability of federal pandemic aid to help them get caught up on rent so they didn鈥檛 get evicted and become homeless.

You might remember reading about Shana Poole-Jones. She runs a nonprofit organization that offers food to folks who need it, be they homeless or otherwise. So while Baumann Property Co. was getting its own federal aid, it was in court suing Poole-Jones for trying to let poor people know about the aid that was available to them 鈥� aid that, if they got it, would end up with the landlord anyway.

With the help of Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, Poole-Jones got the Baumann lawsuit tossed. Baumann, by the way, got nearly all of his PPP loan forgiven. And now, Voytas argues, he鈥檚 using that money to try to avoid liability for keeping Wingo鈥檚 possessions two years after she was evicted.

鈥淚t鈥檚 an amazing case study in a lack of humanity,鈥� Voytas told me in an interview. 鈥淗ere鈥檚 a guy taking a loan funded by the taxpayers, including the woman who was his client, and he takes that money and uses it to evict her.鈥�