Author Archives: Seattle Solidarity Network

Victory! Lorig drops lawsuit, pays $22,000 to fired worker

After thirteen months of aggressive actions, we have finally won our fight against developer Lorig Associates. The have granted our “final offer” demands, dropping their lawsuit against us and paying fired secretary Patricia $22,000 in back-pay compensation (though they won’t call it that).

This fight has been longer and harder than any of us ever imagined it would be. The company brought in a major nationwide union-busting law firm to try and crush us with lawsuits against both our organization and three individual brothers and sisters: Emily, Andrew, and Patricia. They tried to get an injunction banning us from picketing, on pain of arrest. They promised they would never give in to our demands.

Still we stood our ground and managed to keep up a never-ending series of aggressive actions against the company. We repeatedly picketed many of Lorig’s for-rent and for-sale properties. We continually posted “Don’t Rent Here” flyers. We brought our message to Lorig-sponsored “open house” events, industry events, and even charity events. We picketed and addressed three different city councils who were considering hiring Lorig for city developments. We contacted the owner’s neighbors. We brought Lorig’s troubles to the attention of their financial backers at Bank of America. The cost to Lorig in lost business, reputation, and legal expenses has been huge. Now finally, after a full year of pressure, they’ve had enough.

The strength to stick it out and win came from the unwavering solidarity of a ton of SeaSol members, supporters, and allies. When Lorig started suing people, no one ducked for cover – instead, more people stepped up. To everyone who participated in the Lorig fight: THANK YOU! This is your victory.

Thanks also to the lawyers Brendan Donckers and Keith Scully of Gendler & Mann LLP, as well as to Dmitri Iglitzen and Jennifer Robbins of workerlaw.com, who took a stand for freedom of speech by defending us for free when Lorig tried to shut us down with a lawsuit.

For more background, check out our past articles and updates from this fight:

Victory! Direct action stops predatory lawsuit dead in its tracks

Alejandro moved in to one of Victor Venavides’ “Delridge Cottages” in West Seattle last year with his cousin. The place was rundown, had rats, and Venavides repeatedly ignored several requests for repairs, including a shower that went unfixed and unusable for 25 days and a stove Alejandro had pay to have repaired himself. When Alejandro’s cousin decided to move out, Venavides told Alejandro that he was expected to pay an additional $500 security deposit. Alejandro said he didn’t understand why he had to pay it, given the fact that his cousin had still never had his deposit returned and the place had not been cleaned- but Venavides insisted. At the same time Alejandro was having to scrape together money to pay the additional deposit in increments as well as his monthly rent, Venavides started upping the rent. In less than a year Alejandro’s rent increased over $200 per month.

Weary of Venavides’ bullying, Alejandro finally moved out at the end of November 2009, thinking he’d never have to hear from Venavides again. What Alejandro didn’t know at that time was that it is actually only after his tenants move out that Venavides really goes after them. Venavides quickly filed a lawsuit seeking several thousand dollars in damages from Alejandro. Alejandro had no money for a lawyer and did not speak enough English to understand what the lawsuit was all about. It was at this point that, with the help of some friends, Alejandro got in touch with SeaSol. As it turned out, Venavides was falsely claiming that Alejandro had had nine people living with him.

It quickly became apparent after a little digging that this sort of bogus lawsuit was not at all uncommon for Venavides’ former tenants. Venavides’ plan, as he has done to many others, was to use his knowledge of the court system, and Alejandro’s lack of resources and legal expertise, to win a default judgment and begin garnishing Alejandro’s wages. This would add a small extra profit to Victor’s shady business operation as a landlord while causing serious and unjust hardship to Alejandro.

So, on June 15th nearly 30 SeaSolers showed up at Venavides’ door with a simple message: drop this lawsuit immediately or face of the consequences. In the following weeks we put up posters warning people about Venavides around his properties, conducted a door-to-door tenants investigation, and left letters on every car outside his workplace saying we would be coming soon with important information about a slumlord in their midst. After five weeks of relentless pressure Venavides finally realized he had better let this one go, and Alejandro received a letter announcing that the lawsuit had been withdrawn, “with prejudice”.

Talks break down as Lorig demands permanent gag on future abuses

Three months of offers and counter-offers between developer Lorig Associates and SeaSol seem to be ending in failure. The sticking point: Lorig’s insistence on a permanent license to engage in predatory and/or racist behavior against workers, tenants, and communities in the future, without ever facing any form of criticism from SeaSol.

Gaining this extreme form of protection is apparently very important to Lorig–so much so that Chief Operating Officer Tom Fitzsimmons (who you may remember from our last face-to-face Lorig negotiation) has been personally calling ex-receptionist Patricia at her home and dangling the prospect of thousands of dollars in compensation in front of her (“We have the papers drawn up and the check ready for you!”), if only SeaSol will sign their permanent, blanket gag agreement.

Our answer: never. Unlike Tom Fitzsimmons, we have integrity and basic principles to uphold. SeaSol has never granted any employer or landlord a blanket protection to carry out unjust practices in the future without fear of repercussion. If Lorig is unwilling to come to a reasonable agreement, we must be prepared to carry on and step up our efforts at pushing individuals and institutions to cease doing business with this company. If necessary, we may have to proceed all the way to the trial in 2011, where we will beat back their ridiculous lawsuit in a manner that is as public and as costly to them as possible. If Lorig chooses this course, they will still end up with no immunity whatsoever from future criticism and protest.

Victory in Nelson fight–Time to celebrate!


The fight against Nelson Properties is now over! For the past five weeks we have postered every week around Nelson’s properties warning potential renters about the company. We also began a tenants’ rights investigation at their buildings, delivered letters to the owner’s neighbors informing them that there was a slumlord in their midst, and held two small pickets in front of Nelson’s offices to warn potential tenants not to do business with them.

Last Thursday we found out that property management boss Lisza Darling’s reign of terror is over–she is no longer an employee of Nelson Properties. Then this Monday, June 21, Maria received her $500 deposit plus a letter agreeing that all issues from her tenancy (i.e. bogus bills) are now settled!

Let’s celebrate–come to High Point Park at 6 pm this Sunday (6/27/2010) for a victory potluck!