Friday, June 25, 2004 - HAYWARD -- A group of 124 current and former Park Hill Apartments tenants who had filed a lawsuit alleging mold infestation and other substandard living conditions settled for almost $4 million, their attorneys announced this week.

For plaintiff Judy Sedano, whose children were constantly sick living in an apartment that sometimes leaked "like it was raining inside," the settlement money will go to a college trust fund, a vacation and possibly the purchase of a home so they'll never have to deal with such problems again, she said.

"I'm very happy," said Sedano, who lived at Park Hill for nine years and watched the health of her 7- and 11-year-old kids improve once she moved to another Hayward rental. "They're sleeping now at night. Before they were always coughing and wheezing."

The suit, initially filed in 2001, sought more than $5 million in damages for unhealthy living conditions, racial discrimination, retaliation and sexual harassment. It alleged that the complex was poorly constructed and suffered from water and raw sewage leaks, defective furnaces and cracked walls.

The tenants suffered health problems such as asthma, headaches and skin, upper respiratory and sinus ailments from the mold infestation, said their San Francisco attorneys, Kenneth Greenstein and Steven McDonald. Park Hill Apartments owner Rodney Busk, who built the nine-building complex on upper B Street in the 1960s, could not be reached for comment. Park Hill's attorney, Orange County-based John Wilcoxson, did not return a message.

A manager at Park Hill, 22842 Vermont St., referred questions to Hayward attorney Ron Peck, who also didn't respond to a message.

McDonald said the settlement is "definitely one of the largest" of its type in the Bay Area and goes to show "the power in numbers" and determination. The settlement offer was made before a May 14 trial date, he said.

After unsuccessful attempts to settle in conferences with a judge, McDonald said, his firm conducted a rare "destructive testing," in which walls and the roof were opened up.

"The water was pouring in," McDonald said, and the roof was dry-rotted. That may have helped precipitate the settlement offer, he added.

All but four of the plaintiffs have moved out of the 109-unit apartment complex., including Guadalupe Sandoval, who lived there with his wife and two children for about 18 months.

A construction foreman, Sandoval said his family would report a perpetual leak in his bedroom and the management would respond by giving them a 35-gallon bucket.

"The carpet was always wet. The leak would wake us up, and we'd end up sleeping in the living room," he said, adding that his kids and wife suffered from constant headaches and colds.

He, too, is pleased by the settlement and hopes it prevents landlords from repeating such offenses.

Both he and Sedano said a lot of people are living in such conditions but are afraid to do anything about it or don't think their efforts will matter.

"People told me '(Busk) is too powerful. People are just wasting their time (on the lawsuit,'" Sedano said. "I didn't care about the money. I just wanted my kids' (health) tested. I felt like no one was listening to me."

Plaintiff Tracy Ryan, who now owns a house in Modesto, said she is relieved the suit is over and thinks it may lead to some greater good.

"If we hadn't taken the step we did to try to make living conditions better," it could have resulted in a death due to illness or injury, she said.

The apartments range in rent from $900 to $1,495 a month, and are relatively spacious. One tenant, who asked to remain anonymous, has lived there for less than a year but noticed mold and moisture beading up on the walls during the rainy season.

However, another tenant, who also wanted to remain anonymous, said she hasn't had any problems with her unit.

The size of the individual payouts in the case are confidential, McDonald said. The settlement total was $3.83 million.

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