Willamette Week | By Katie Shepherd | October 10, 2017
In early August, a Portland woman sued state Sen. Rod Monroe (D-East Portland) and C&R Real Estate Services, which manage Monroe’s Red Rose Manor apartment complex, because a neglected, leaky roof caused a puddle that she slipped in, injuring her back, knee and hips. She’s now adding claims of retaliation, discrimination and failure to accommodate her disability to the lawsuit.
In her amended complaint filed Oct. 10, Areli Lopez asked for $4.2 million for the poor treatment she says she has endured at Red Rose Manor. She also declared her intent to seek $5 million in punitive damages.
“She’s amending her complaint so the jury has the opportunity to hold the landlord accountable for its alleged retaliation and discrimination,” her lawyer Michael Fuller says.
Her lawsuit claims that requests for repairs and to move to a downstairs unit to accommodate her injury-related disabilities went ignored. She alleges that the management company also retaliated against her by refusing to put her on a waitlist for a parking space in the complex’s garage despite promising to do so before she filed the lawsuit.
The lawsuit has added to political pressure on Monroe.
He will face opposition in the 2018 primary election in May. In the 2017 legislative session, he would have been a deciding vote on a bill to outlaw “no-cause” evictions—but the measure died in committee. He also opposed a rent control bill.
Monroe and C&R Real Estate Services could not immediately be reached for comment.
