One of two contractors that unlawfully evicted 18 military members and their families from private military housing in San Diego and Orange counties said Thursday it took steps to prevent similar actions from happening again.
Under the settlement with the state of California announced Wednesday, Lincoln Military Property Management LP and San Diego Family Housing LLC, and their eviction law firm, are required to pay $200,000 in civil penalties, as well as provide $52,000 in debt relief for the service members harmed by their conduct and assist victims with restoring and repairing credit history.
“It is unfortunate that this occurred, but we have taken specific actions to address it,” San Diego Family Housing said in a statement released today. “We look forward to continuing to provide excellent housing and healthy communities to the military families who reside in one of our more than 10,000 off-base housing units in California and across our country who we are honored to serve.”
State Attorney General Kamala Harris said the evictions violated the California Military and Veterans Code, the Service members Civil Relief Act, and other state debt collection laws which protect service members who are sued while serving on active military duty.
The laws prevent the entry of a default judgment unless an attorney has been appointed to represent the interests of the absent service member, and they prohibit the use of false statements to collect a debt.
In addition, the contractors allegedly violated California privacy laws by filing court documents that included unredacted Social Security numbers, birth dates, or other personal information of nearly 100 service members and military family members.
The settlement also requires the defendants to provide privacy protections to victims, including identity theft repair and mitigation services for a year.
In addition, any default judgment evicting a service member and his or her family that was unlawfully obtained will be dismissed.
—City News Service
