The Woodlands of Gainesville, located at 1055 SW 62nd Blvd., remains entrenched in an ongoing legal battle with former tenant Zachary Arnold and his mother, Michelle Arnold.
Arnold, who lived in the complex from when it first opened in 2008 until 2010, was initially sued by the Woodlands for about $5,600 because he owed for back rent, late fees and property damage, Patricia Boyes, counsel for the Woodlands, wrote in an email.
In response to those claims, Arnold and his mother, the guarantor on the lease, countersued the Woodlands, claiming that the complex had violated numerous Florida laws.
Andy Dogali, the attorney acting on behalf of the Arnolds, said the Woodlands had not obtained the correct legal licenses to operate while Arnold lived there and included provisions in the standard lease that didn’t comply with Florida law.
“For roughly the first four years of existence, the Woodlands had no license, and therefore it was unlawful to collect rent,” he said.
Dogali said the solution would be for the Woodlands to return all the rent collected from the tenants who lived in the complex during the period of time they did not have a license, which he estimates to be about 2,500 tenants.
“It’s an enormous claim,” he said. “We’re still not far enough down the road that I know precisely how many different tenants have paid rent to them.”
Boyes wrote in an email that at the time of opening, the Woodlands had obtained its business occupation license from the city and was unaware another permit was needed.
After realizing a public lodging license was needed, the Woodlands paid the application fee and received the additional permit, Boyes said. She said requiring retroactive rent payback is an unrealistic way to make up for a simple paperwork hang-up.
“The law will not condone such an extreme punishment,” she said. “Especially since the lack of this permit never endangered any tenant’s health or welfare.”
The class-action lawsuit has been moving slowly for more than two years, but Dogali said that’s to be expected when filing a claim against a smaller company.
“They tend to react a different way,” he said. “For that reason, they spent two years filing all kinds of motions and litigating all kinds of stuff like crazy.”
Dogali said collecting allegations is the next step. He’s sent out letters to Woodlands tenants asking them to submit any evidence that could be used.
A version of this story ran on page 1 on 9/6/2013 under the headline "Woodlands, former resident negotiate lawsuit"
