DEADLINE FOR FORMER TENANTS OF ALLEN BENEDICT COURT TO SUBMIT A CLAIM IN CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT IS SEPTEMBER 1, 2025

The deadline for former tenants of Allen Benedict Court to submit a claim for money damages in a class action lawsuit against Columbia Housing Authority is September 1, 2025.

For information about the lawsuit and to obtain a claim form, go to https://www.cptgroupcaseinfo.com/CHASettlement/ or call CPT Group, the claims administrator, at 1-888-678-2618.

In order to submit a claim, you must have been a tenant at Allen Benedict Court as shown on a written lease with the Housing Authority of the City of Columbia (“Columbia Housing Authority” or “CHA”) as of January 17-18, 2019, or a member of a Tenant’s household residing at the Tenant’s unit at Allen Benedict Court as of January 17-18, 2019. If you previously have settled and released your claims against CHA with regard to the emergency evacuation, you are excluded from the Settlement Class and may not receive a monetary award in the settlement.

The claim form must be postmarked no later than September 1, 2025, and mailed to:

Basinger v. Columbia Housing Authority

c/o CPT Group, Inc

50 Corporate Park

Irvine, CA 92606-5105

The Court on April 9, 2025, granted preliminary approval of a class settlement in which Columbia Housing Authority (“CHA”) has agreed to pay $1 million to settle the claims of former tenants of Allen Benedict Court.  The former tenants were evacuated from their apartments on an emergency basis in January 2019 after city officials determined that conditions at the complex posed an imminent danger to all tenants and their families.

The now-demolished Allen Benedict Court, located off Harden Street, had 244 apartments and about 400 people lived there.  Two men who lived at the complex died from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a gas furnace that Plaintiffs alleged had not been properly maintained for years.  City of Columbia fire and building officials ordered the immediate evacuation of the entire apartment complex on January 17-18, 2019, after the deaths of the two tenants and inspection of numerous apartments with similar safety concerns throughout the complex.

Two former tenants brought a class action lawsuit, the Basinger case, against CHA in 2019.  About 150 additional former tenants brought individual claims in a second lawsuit, the Montgomery case, against CHA in 2023.  Plaintiffs in both cases sought money damages for economic loss and disruption they suffered as the result of their evacuation and displacement from their apartments.

Pursuant to the Court’s order, the following persons are included in the settlement class:

1. All Plaintiffs who have asserted claims against CHA in the Basinger case and in the Third Amended Complaint in the Montgomery

   These Plaintiffs will be automatically deemed to be class members and will not be required to submit a claim form to the third-party class administration firm in order to receive a monetary award from the proposed class settlement.

2. All tenants of Allen Benedict Court as shown on a written lease as of January 17-18, 2019 (“Tenants”) and the members of a Tenant’s household residing at the Tenant’s unit at Allen Benedict Court as of January 17-18, 2019. But this definition excludes those tenants and individuals who have previously settled and released their claims that are identical or similar to those set forth in the Basinger or Montgomery lawsuits or otherwise relate to or arose from the circumstances that serve as the factual bases for the claims brought in the Basinger or Montgomery

   All potential Class Members defined in subparagraph (b) will be required to timely submit a valid claim form to the third-party class administration firm if they wish to claim a monetary award in the settlement.

Former tenants and their minor children who are current clients of Proffitt & Cox Law Firm in the Allen Benedict Court litigation (and who are Plaintiffs in the two pending lawsuits) are NOT required to submit a Proof of Claim form in order to receive a monetary payment from the class settlement.  Current clients of Proffitt & Cox Law Firm in this litigation automatically are deemed members of the settlement class.  The Legal Notice and Proof of Claim form will not be mailed to current clients of Proffitt & Cox Law Firm.

All other former tenants who were living at Allen Benedict Court when the emergency evacuation occurred on January 17-18, 2019, must mail a Proof of Claim Form to the class administration firm, CPT Group, postmarked no later than September 1, 2025, in order to receive a monetary payment from the class settlement.  CPT Group began mailing the Legal Notice of the class settlement and Proof of Claim form to the former tenants in early June 2025.

The settlement provides that the proceeds will be distributed on a per-person basis after payment of $250,000 in attorneys’ fees, reimbursement of costs advanced by attorneys in the cases, incentive payments of $2,500 each to the two named Plaintiffs and payment of costs charged by the class administration firm.  Each adult and child who is determined to be a class member will receive a pro-rata share of the settlement proceeds.

No settlement proceeds will be disbursed until the Court gives final approval to the settlement class and terms.  A final hearing will be scheduled at the first available court term after November 15, 2025.  Notice of the hearing date will be announced later.

The class settlement is expected to resolve two cases pending in Richland County Court of Common Pleas:  Tammy L. Basinger and Khaylis C. Scott, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated v. Columbia Housing Authority, current C.A. No. 2024-CP-40-05868 and Cedric T. Montgomery et al. v. Columbia Housing Authority, C.A. No. 2023-CP-40-02319.  The Court by order filed April 9, 2025, consolidated the Montgomery case with the Basinger class action case.

For more information, you may find the Court’s Preliminary Approval Order, the Legal Notice, and the Proof of Claim form which must be submitted by specified former tenants to CPT Group at www.cptgroupcaseinfo.com/CHASettlement.