At least three former tenants who had rented apartments from an Evanston landlord are now suing him, alleging poor maintenance of the dwellings, citing deplorable living conditions and accusing the property owner of being a “slumlord with an empire of crumbling properties,” according to the lawsuit.
Carlene Clarke filed a class-action lawsuit in late December against Sargon Isaac, owner of the property Clarke rented in the 2100 block of Emerson.
The lawsuit further accuses Sargon of racial discrimination, claiming he is favorably responsive to his white tenants but ignores and, in some cases, seeks to evict Black ones who complain about their apartment conditions. The suit alleges that the landlord’s actions violate the federal Fair Housing Act.
Clarke originally filed the lawsuit Dec. 23, 2021, naming as defendants Isaac, his son Peter Isaac and Daniel Biss, “in his capacity as mayor of the City of Evanston.” Radiance Collins and Victoria Fahnbulleh joined the lawsuit Feb. 28, court documents indicate. All three women are Black.
The suit seeks at least $10 million.
Danielle Malaty, of Kopka Pinkus Dolin P.C., attorney for Sargon Isaac, his son, Peter, and who represents the Main Keeler LLC and Big Tree Homes LLC businesses named in the complaint, declined to comment.
According to her legal complaint, from the moment Clarke and her family moved into the apartment last April, there were problems. Clarke stated in the lawsuit that the roof leaked and cracks caused by water damage reached from the floor to the ceiling. The heat didn’t work in parts of the apartment. Several rooms had peeling and rotting paint. She alleged that there was a rodent infestation “so severe” that she and her family could “hear the mice and rats scratching and clawing in the walls every day.”
The suit states that Clarke asked Isaac to make repairs but he refused, telling her she was experiencing these troubles because she was Black, and “every country has people who must struggle, and in the United States, those people are Black.”
According to court documents, Sargon sought to evict Clarke after she filed the lawsuit. But on Jan. 18, a Cook County judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking the eviction. The judge, in that ruling, also ordered the landlord to make several repairs to the apartment he had allegedly previously refused to do.
On Feb. 28, Sargon Isaac filed a response stating that he addressed the heating, plumbing and rodent infestation issues at Clarke’s apartment. He included three affidavits from men stating they had done the repair work. It did not address Clarke’s or the other claims.
Sheryl Ring, the attorney who filed the suit, declined to speak on the record to Pioneer Press, saying she did not comment on ongoing litigation.
Biss also did not respond to requests for comment. However, in responding to a separate inquiry, Evanston city attorney Nicholas Cummings said the city does not comment on ongoing litigation, but said the lawsuit had revealed issues he had not been aware of and would be directing the city Law Department to investigate.
Fahnbulleh, a former tenant of one of Sargon Isaac’s properties, alleges that Isaac refused to repair a broken heater in the apartment she occupied from 2016 to 2021, which led to frozen pipes and water damage to her bathroom last winter.
Collins moved into her rental unit in December and shortly thereafter received an electric bill totaling more than $29,000 that had gone unpaid prior to her entering the apartment, the lawsuit claims. Her heat and plumbing also did not work.
“As a result of the inoperable plumbing, sewage backflowed in the bathroom and caused a rancid odor,” according to the lawsuit.
A local homelessness advocacy organization paid the rent for Collins, the lawsuit states.
Collins terminated her lease in February with the assistance of an attorney. The city of Evanston cited Sargon Isaac for the lack of heat, according to the lawsuit, community organizers, attorneys and a city official.
Court documents claim Sargon owns more than 50 properties in Evanston, including 20 multi-family buildings.
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An initial review of property standards complaints filed in Evanston in the last five years revealed two dozen health complaints against 15 properties where Sargon Isaac was listed as the landlord. The complaints alleged broken locks on exterior doors, heating issues, blocked drains and burst pipes, and insect and rodent infestation — with one stating “mice in stove.”
Joshua Irvine is a freelancer.