The Oregonian | By Zane Sparling | March 13, 2026
A Portland couple who allegedly became unwitting roommates with a horde of rodents have sued the owners of their Northeast Portland apartment complex.
Bryan Padilla and his wife, Adilene, packed their bags and fled the mouse house after finding their 10-month-old son had popped a verminous corpse into his mouth on Dec. 22, according to a lawsuit filed last month in Multnomah County Circuit Court.
In a Wednesday interview, Padilla, 27, said he was at work in a local box factory that day when his wife called.
“I was just livid. I had to leave work right away,” he said.
They rushed their son, Iker, to an emergency room, where a nurse found no signs of rabies, but asked the parents to monitor him closely for any new symptoms, according to a hospital chart provided by Padilla’s attorney.
Padilla said the boy appears to be healthy, although he’s still worried.
The lawsuit, filed by Emily Templeton and Michael Fuller of the Underdog Law Office, seeks $2,665 in back rent and $122,000 in noneconomic damages for alleged violations of the Oregon Residential Landlord Tenant Act.
The young family had signed a one-year lease and moved into a two-bedroom unit at the Davenport Apartments, 17899 N.E. Oregon St., in November, according to court papers.
Padilla said he had toured the complex before signing the rental agreement, but when he and his wife moved in, they were assigned a different apartment than the one he’d originally seen.
They believed something was off from the first whiff of the place, Padilla said, and grew increasingly rattled by the sounds of late-night scurrying, mouse holes and mounting feces.
Padilla said the property management company, Avenue5, laid out rat poison and plugged some of the gaps in the walls, but to no avail.
Avenue5 — whose regional manager is listed on registration documents for AMFP V Pine Village, the holding company that owns the building — didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The family broke their lease after the incident and have since moved back to California to be closer to family.
“If you lose a couple thousand dollars, it’s worth it over your son possibly getting infected with something,” Padilla said. “Speak up before it’s too late.”
