Madison Property Management Inc. was awarded more than $7,700 in damages Thursday, stemming from a 2005 lawsuit filed against four UW-Madison students for failure to pay rent.
The lawsuit arose in 2005 when Madison Property Management was ordered to fix numerous deficiencies in a house at 116 N. Broom St. While renovations occurred at the house, the four tenants living there forewent summer rent because of what was deemed poor living conditions and eventually moved out.
However, Michael Greiber, a corporate council member for MPM, said the tenants—Derek Thiel, Brian Gleason, Eric McEwen and William Mullen—were held accountable for breaching the contract because of their withdrawal during the summer.
""It was a fair decision based on the facts,"" Greiber said.
Attorney David Sparer represented the students in the case that began on Wednesday and ended late Thursday. He said the ruling by Judge William Foust to award MPM with reparations due to unpaid rent was unforeseen.
""It was very shocking and disappointing,"" Sparer said, ""I feel like it was not justice done ... the place was in very bad condition and the landlord basically got away with renting it out like that,"" Sparer said.
Still, the defendants were granted $5,500 in a countersuit on the landlord during the same case. According to Sparer, the house was fraudulently rented out as a four-bedroom when it should have been a three-bedroom. In all, MPM walked away with a judgment worth a little over $2,100.
In April 2005, Associated Students of Madison voted the house ""Worst House in Madison."" Assistant District Attorney Mike Verveer said he had a chance to tour the house once it was given the dubious title. He said its upkeep was ""quite pathetic"" and no one deserved to live in those conditions.
""Students normally have a pretty high tolerance for poor living conditions,"" Verveer said. ""That was the worst house I've seen ... it really was remarkable what I witnessed.""
Sparer said when inspectors searched the home, more than 58 code violations were found and hundreds of hours of labor were required to appropriately fix everything. Still, he said the judge ruled the landlord was unaware of all problems.
Greiber said it was one of the most unique cases he's been a part of because it was such a large-scale suit. He said normally tenant-landlord suits are settled in small claims court and for much less money than was being battled over Wednesday and Thursday.
""I've been at Madison Property Management for more than seven years; this is only the second large-claim landlord-tenant case I've had,"" Greiber said.
