According to an attorney for a woman who was raped and sodomized for more than 12 hours in her second-floor apartment in the Promenade Cullen Park 3 years ago, managers of the apartment complex just west of the Addicks Reservoir had in fact sent out a notice to residents after a through-the-balcony break-in of the unit next door to her 2 weeks earlier. However, it was “the same warning that they would send out if a bicycle was stolen off a balcony or a TV was stolen out of an apartment,” attorney Troy Chandler tells the Houston Chronicle. “The notice failed to mention that a burglary occurred, that the assailant waited inside, that a tenant was attacked and that there had been an attempted rape.” After that incident but before she was raped, the woman renewed her lease on the apartment — without being informed about the nature of the attack, according to her attorneys.
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This week a Harris County jury awarded the rape victim a $20 million judgment, after she claimed in her lawsuit that managers at the complex had failed to notify residents about previous sexual attacks on the property. Of the total amount, $7 million was awarded for physical pain and mental anguish, $5 million for future mental anguish, and $8 million for violating the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
The apartment complex at 1800 Barker Cypress Rd. — formerly known as the Trails at Barker Cypress — is managed by the Arcadian Real Estate Group, according to a Channel 2 news report. Apartment resident Darryl Anthony Martin pled guilty to the rape charge in 2010 and is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence.
- Jury awards $20 million to rape victim who sued apartments [Houston Chronicle]
- Rape victim sues apartment complex, awarded $20 million [Click2Houston]
- Cullen, Brown families lend financial muscle to commercial venture [Houston Business Journal]
Photo: Apartment Home Living
$20 million? Really?
I’d be surprised to see that verdict hold on appeal.
I wonder what the pre-trial demand was and what the last best offer was from the defendant. I bet they could have settled for a fraction of $20 mil. Have no fear, the ultra-conservative court of appeals will undoubtedly slice and dice this one down to morsels.
I thought I heard on one of the local news channels that the plaintiffs were originally seeking $10 million but the jury doubled the award. Nonetheless, perhaps it will serve as a signal to apartment management companies to be serious about their residents’ safety. Nothing is foolproof I realize, but to not issue a stronger warning and taking measures seems the least the management could have done.
So if the management would’ve sent out a letter detailing the other alleged attack, what would’ve changed? Would she no longer go into her apartment everyday alone? Would she have bought a gun? What?
What IS cool is that knowledge (of dangerous circumstances) does lead to change (being more vigilant, moving, etc.)
Best thing about our Instant Information Age!
But the thing that could not be changed is that the rapist was a resident there. Or at least that’s the way I read the above.
True, she may have been more wary had she been fully advised but chances are, she recognized him from day to day and did not think he was a threat.
The victim lived alone and renewed her lease shortly after the first incident without being told about its severity.
If she had been properly informed of what happened next door she wouldnt have lived there anymore.
But lots of people might not have lived there anymore had the management properly informed their residences about the first attack, so they said little (or nothing) about it.