Man alleges Deep Ellum landlord threw away his things by mistake, then kicked him out

A man who had been living in a Deep Ellum apartment tower is suing its management, alleging that while he was at work, they mistakenly threw his and his daughter’s belongings in the dumpster, refused to repay him and forced him to move out because his name was not on the lease.

Johnny Abney filed a lawsuit this week in Dallas County court against Dallas-based Westdale Asset Management Ltd., which operates the 26-story Hamilton apartment tower at The Epic development in Deep Ellum, just east of downtown.

Abney accused the company of invasion of privacy, wrongfully exercising control over the property, theft and trespassing. He is seeking $200,000 to $1 million in damages.

Attempts by The Dallas Morning News to reach Westdale and The Hamilton management were unsuccessful. Rent in the apartment complex runs anywhere from $1,800 to $5,200 a month.

According to the lawsuit, the 30-year-old single father left the apartment he was living in at 9 a.m. on July 25 and returned from work at 9 p.m., noticing the front door was unlocked. The unit was leased under Abney’s ex-girlfriend’s name, and he had been living there for months after she moved out of state, said his attorney, Jason Friedman.

Abney turned on the lights to find the apartment empty and immediately called the police, the lawsuit said.

“The guy thought he was robbed,” Friedman said.

Police and a representative for The Hamilton arrived on the scene. While making the police report, the lawsuit alleges, the staff member informed the officer that the unit Abney was living in was mistaken for another unit whose tenants had moved out a week earlier.

A leasing agent for the complex told police that maintenance staff accidentally cleared out the wrong unit, according to a police report attached to the lawsuit. The report said the other tenants were supposed to be evicted. Friedman said the tenants told him they moved out because their lease was up.

“These people [maintenance] walked into somebody’s apartment, fully furnished,” Friedman said. “Don’t you think someone would go, ‘Are you sure it’s the right apartment?’ But no, they threw everything this guy owned in his life in the trash.”

Everything Abney and his 9-year-old daughter owned, including high-end clothing, furniture and televisions estimated to total $70,000 in value, was tossed in a dumpster, according to the lawsuit.

“Their whole lives, their memories, his daughter’s safe place, and the home that they had built together — all unceremoniously tossed into a filthy dumpster, left broken, raided and picked over by scavengers, and covered in filth throughout the day,” the lawsuit said.

“By the time Johnny came home and realized his whole life was thrown away, all that was left behind was dirty, broken, and unusable furniture and a few rifled-through, mismatched bags of clothes.”

According to the police report, the leasing agent said they would attempt to return as much of Abney’s property as they could, but that other residents began taking items from the dumpster.

The next day, apartment management staff brought up that Abney was not named on the lease, the lawsuit alleges. “People move in and live with their girlfriend all the time, sometimes you add your name to the lease and sometimes you don’t,” the lawsuit said.

A leasing agent told him his rental application would be expedited if he filled out a form she handed him, the lawsuit said. Before filling out the application, the suit said, he questioned what the landlord intended to do about his belongings being removed.

He wasn’t given an answer and later that day received a lease-violation notice on the door, the lawsuit said. The unauthorized occupant notice indicated that all people living there must complete an application and meet the apartment’s rental criteria to be added to the lease. Failure to comply in 24 hours would result in a notice to vacate. On July 27, he received a notice to vacate and left, the lawsuit said.

“Imagine having to tell your child that her favorite toy was gone, that her baby photos were forever lost, the back-to-school supplies she’d lovingly chosen were tossed, and that her new school uniforms were gone – it was a parent’s nightmare,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit said when The Hamilton staff entered the unit, they noticed “suspicious” money from a casino-themed wedding reception labeled as “copy money” and “prop money.” It also said staff brought up he had been cited for possession of marijuana 10 years ago.

“They’re trying to act like he’s a criminal and not compensate the guy,” Friedman said. “They said he was a counterfeiter and he was a criminal because he had smoked marijuana.”

Abney has a trucking company and does commercial maintenance work, according to Friedman. He is now temporarily staying with a relative, the attorney said.

“It has been a month since the incident at The Hamilton, and he can’t move anywhere else because he has nothing to move in with,” the lawsuit said.