The book is officially closed on Crystal Avenue lawsuit

With troubled high-rise apartments empty, 12-year-old class-action case comes to end

New London — Attorney Robert I. Reardon has made the case since 2004 that the residents of Thames River Apartments were living in “substandard, dangerous and uninhabitable” conditions.

His firm has worked pro bono to litigate since that time — initially representing resident Nicole Majette, who was seriously injured after slipping in a puddle of urine and falling down a stairwell. In 2014, Reardon’s long pending class-action lawsuit on behalf of the Thames River residents led to a court-stipulated agreement that mandated new homes.

Reardon was in New London Superior Court again on Thursday, seated opposite lawyers for the city and housing authority, but this time in a less adversarial role. The hearing was an acknowledgment of an end to more than a decade of litigation and work to find better homes for the Thames River families.

“It’s with great pleasure that I can report to the court that the goals of the class-action lawsuit brought on July 16, 2006 … have been finally accomplished,” Reardon said. “The Thames River Apartments are empty, I am pleased to announce.”

Thursday’s proceedings

took place with Judge David M. Sheridan presiding. Sheridan had signed the court-stipulated agreement in 2014 and was meeting with both sides for regular status updates in the case over the past year.

Reardon’s lawsuit targeted what many described as unsafe and unsanitary conditions at the federally subsidized, 124-unit complex reserved for low-income families.

There was little in the way of security and in the six years preceding the 2004 lawsuit, police had reported more than 3,000 incidents and 300 arrests at the complex, including robbery, assault, sex crimes, kidnapping and use of weapons. Two children were fatally stabbed in April 2004.

The housing authority was also on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s “troubled,” list at the time the suit was filed. The complex failed HUD inspections due to rodent infestations, along with urine, garbage, broken glass and hypodermic needles in common areas.

And while conditions had improved somewhat, Reardon had reopened the case last year when it became clear the housing authority was not meeting obligations detailed in the agreement. Construction on replacement homes for the more than 300 residents was slated to begin in 2017 but never happened.

The housing authority has since worked to obtain the federal funding necessary to allow for relocation of residents of the federally subsidize complex to private residences. HUD released $1.28 million in November to fund housing vouchers under the Housing Choice Voucher program, the federal government’s major program for assisting low-income families, the elderly and the disabled to afford housing in the private market.

“All of the tenants of the three buildings known as the Thames River Apartments on Crystal Avenue in New London have now been relocated to safe, habitable housing while they continue to receive the necessary federal subsidies to assist them in meeting their rental obligations,” Reardon said.

He added that the only thing remaining in the buildings was the vermin and the cockroaches. He said he intends to withdraw his pending court action by next week.

Betsy Gibson, chairwoman of the Housing Authority Board of Directors, said her goal since joining the housing authority in 2016 has been to look after the interests of residents.

In court, she held photos of four children from Thames River Apartments and said it was from her first visit there, a “life changing event.”

She said she vowed at that time that “if I do nothing else the rest of my life — these girls are not going to live under these conditions.” Gibson was on hand Tuesday to watch the doors of the three high rises padlocked.

Housing authority attorney Donn A. Swift acknowledged that “this is one case where both sides realized they had a common interest — the residents.”

Sheridan said the outcome was an example of government entities — local, state and federal — working together “to accomplish something good.”