The Oregonian | By Jonathan Bach | December 20, 2024
Paulette Twiss still finds herself lying in bed at night worrying about mice.
She left the Eastmont Villa Apartments at Southeast 162nd Avenue and Powell Boulevard last year, after seven years as a tenant. But she recalls hearing the rodents scurry about in her former apartment when they’d hear traffic outside.
Now, “the slightest thing will wake me up,” said Twiss.
A Multnomah County jury this week awarded Twiss more than $64,000 in damages after finding her previous landlord, Eastmont Villa LLC, “did not maintain its premises in a habitable condition at all times” while she lived there.
An attorney for Eastmont Villa LLC did not respond to requests for comment, nor did Grant Broer, who’s named as a company representative in state business records.
Twiss, 60, moved into the Eastmont Villa Apartments in 2016. Brad Gerow, an inspector with Home Forward, Portland’s housing authority, went out to the property in June 2023 and concluded, “The inspection failed because of Health & Safety Issues,” according to a copy of the inspector’s letter introduced into evidence.
Gerow told Eastmont Villa in the letter to investigate and fix “mildew” and “rodent infestation” problems in the unit.
A screenshot of a text message exchange, also entered in evidence, showed a photo of a dead mouse in a trap in the apartment. Twiss’ attorney, Michael Fuller, said she had texted the landlord the photo before she filed her lawsuit.
A July 2023 letter from another Portland housing inspector also cited “[r]odent dropping (sic) underneath the dishwasher,” according to a copy of the violation letter in evidence.
City spokesperson Ken Ray told The Oregonian/OregonLive the property owner was cited at the time for 23 code violations, including for safety, health and maintenance issues.
The initial inspection “revealed violations that triggered an Enhanced Rental Inspection Program (ERIP) stage 2 inspection, which required us to inspect an additional five units,” Ray said in an email Friday.
“The property owner addressed each of the violations we identified,” Ray noted. “All units inspected were free of interior violations at the time of re-inspection, and the case was closed on Aug. 30, 2023. No further inspections have been conducted since. The property is no longer in the Enhanced Rental Inspection Program.”
Twiss, who uses Section 8 housing vouchers to help pay her rent, said she moved to another place in Portland after Home Forward helped her get out of her lease early.
She filed her civil lawsuit against the landlord in September 2023. The case wound through various motions before its Dec. 16 trial.
Twiss was motivated to act by the thought of other tenants living there, she said, adding: “I went through a lot.”
