- Widespread infestations of vermin, mold, and persistent sewage overflows.
- Roof leaks, structural neglect, and chronic health risks.
- A business strategy prioritizing hasty, low-cost repairs with unskilled labor over real solutions.
For residents, especially those with nowhere else to turn, the impact has been both physical and psychological.
The heart of the lawsuit: PAMA Management and related companies, under Nijjar’s leadership, allegedly capitalized on lax enforcement and the desperation of low-income tenants. Most residents depend on fixed incomes or Section 8 housing vouchers. As Bonta’s office alleges, this made them easy targets for a landlord who, rather than investing in habitability, “treated lawsuit after lawsuit and code violation after code violation as the cost of doing business.”
“Nijjar and his associates have treated lawsuit after lawsuit and code violation after code violation as the cost of doing business and have been allowed to operate and collect hundreds of millions of dollars each year from families who sleep, shower, and feed their children in unhealthy and deplorable conditions,” Bonta said. “Enough is enough.”
— Attorney General Rob Bonta
Examples cited in the lawsuit:
