Owner of Montrose senior apartments ordered to repair elevators, accuses city attorney of collusion
A judge on Wednesday ordered the owner of Montrose senior home to get both elevators on the premises — one of which has been broken for nearly a year — working by the end of November or possibly face trial.
When the second elevator broke down in May, some seniors were left stranded in their apartments for nearly two weeks. While that elevator is now operational, it is still unsafe, according to several tenants.
After Judge Beverly Bourne gave her order, a kerfuffle broke out in the hallway of the L.A. County Superior Courtroom in Glendale where the case was heard.
Elias Shokrian, owner of the Honolulu Manor Senior Apartments, asked Glendale Deputy City Atty. David Ligtenberg how he could have allowed the attorney for some tenants of the building to be present.
“It seems like you two have colluded,” Shokrian said of Ligtenberg and the tenants’ attorney, Raymond Zakari, who spoke before the hearing outside the courtroom.
“Victims have a right to representation and a right to be present,” Ligtenberg said before the confrontation was stopped by a bailiff.
Several tenants who showed up for the hearing looked on.
Zakari said he also tried to speak with Shokrian’s attorney, Thomas Sands.
Shokrian has pleaded not guilty to a criminal misdemeanor lawsuit brought by the city against him over the complex’s elevator problems.
The elevator that broke last October has been completely replaced — which some tenants disputed — and should be operational within a day or two, Shokrian said during the hearing on Wednesday.
Shokrian said that although he obtained parts for the other elevator, he only needed one operational elevator to be compliant with state law.
Glendale’s code requires that both be fixed, regardless of state law, Ligtenberg said.
Bourne agreed.
“I want that second elevator working,” she said.
Tenants George Heussenstamm, 93, and Eileen Mcclintock, 69, both said after the hearing that they live in fear of again losing the sole operational elevator — which they said still jerks and does not always stop at the proper floor.
McClintock, who uses a walker or wheelchair, said she moved to the apartment specifically for its elevators, leaving her old home of 31 years because it had stairs.
Facing the fire stairs in the current complex, “it’s even more dangerous for me,” she said.
When both elevators were down in May, she said a firefighter had to help her up the stairs.
“I like living there. I want to stay,” Heussenstamm added, “but our lives have been made miserable by this man and his total negligence.”
Heussenstamm and McClintock, along with other tenants, are suing Shokrian in a separate civil suit alleging elder abuse, age discrimination and negligence.
A status hearing for the city’s lawsuit is set for Oct. 30, with a follow-up pre-trial date set for Nov. 21.
Bourne said Shokrian must be present at both hearings. She had also asked that he show up at the most recent hearing.
Ligtenberg told the judge he’s disappointed with the timeline. Previously, it was agreed that the elevators would be fixed by mid-October, which he also thought was generous.
“I’m not sure we can make work happen faster, but it’s already taken so long,” Ligtenberg said.