Apartment company co-owned by Jared Kushner must pay over $4M in damages, Baltimore judge rules

A Baltimore judge has ruled that more than 17,000 current and former tenants of an apartment company co-owned by President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are entitled to over $4.17 million in damages — plus interest.

Circuit Judge Paul Cucuzzella on Tuesday came down in favor of the tenants, finding that Westminster Management illegally charged late fees and billed for court costs that it did not incur at 17 properties in Maryland.

Cucuzzella ruled that interest at a rate of 6% would be assessed. Attorneys for the tenants said that will exceed $2 million.

In a statement, Tenae Smith, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, called the opinion a “monumental step in a nine-year battle towards resolving this case for thousands of tenants who are entitled to decent housing without being charged unlawful fees.”

“No one should have to face the choice that I did, between paying illegal fees and feeding my kids,” Smith said.

Attorneys for Westminster Management and its parent company, Kushner Cos., did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The ruling comes more than two years after the Maryland Supreme Court ruled against the company in the lawsuit, which was originally filed in 2017. The complaint alleged that the real estate company and its related entities engaged in a scheme that involved charging illegal and excessive late fees — and for expenses outside of their monthly rents.

Last year, a judge certified the case as a class action, entitling current and past tenants who paid those fees to compensation.

Andy Freeman, a partner at Brown, Goldstein & Levy in Baltimore who represents the tenants, said they were grateful the judge saw through what he described as the company’s “efforts to obfuscate and delay.”

“While there are several more steps before money can be distributed, we look forward to the day when current and former Westminster tenants finally receive the damages they are owed and Westminster is held accountable for its illegal, predatory behavior,” Freeman said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Matt Hill, managing attorney at the Public Justice Center in Baltimore who also represents the tenants, added in a statement that the decision should “serve as a warning to other landlords that have never met an illegal fee they wouldn’t try to charge.”

In a separate 2022 decision, Westminster Management agreed to pay a $3.25 million penalty and restitution to current and former tenants in a settlement with the Maryland Office of the Attorney General.