BautistaLeRoy Lawyer Uncovered Rooming House Scheme in Missouri

Attorney Ryan Gavin of BautistaLeRoy LLC took Dara Daugherty to court ? and won a $1.8 million judgment against her.

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Feb. 11, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Attorney Ryan Gavin of BautistaLeRoy LLC took Dara Daugherty to court with allegations ? and won a $1.8 million judgment against her.

The case against Dara Daugherty by our client, James Cole, was litigated under Case No. 2322-CC00795 and came to an end with the judgment by Judge Michael Seltzer.

Gavin filed the lawsuit against Daugherty and one of her LLCs in April of 2023 on behalf of James Cole, who had rented a room from Daugherty in the Benton Park West neighborhood. Cole, a laborer, paid Daugherty $500 a month to stay at a property that had been condemned by the city and later described as "a haven for illegal drug use and criminal activity."

Cole ended up being stabbed on site by another tenant. The lawsuit filed by Gavin alleged that Daugherty failed to provide her renters with "safe and inhabitable premise" in which to live, that she didn't provide repairs or maintenance or do any due diligence in screening renters and that all this amounted to negligence.

In the process of writing and researching that lawsuit, Gavin and just one other staffer at his firm uncovered a bombshell suit, filed by its Affirmative Litigation Unit nine months later.

The suit argued that Daugherty's lack of oversight and care for the property made it attractive to "dangerous persons who were likely to, and in fact did, commit criminal and harmful acts on the premises." Daugherty knew or should have known this, the suit says.

Cole was stabbed in April 2021 and was transported to Saint Louis University Hospital, underwent surgery and was released after 17 days.

"He still receives physical therapy," Gavin says. "And really the problem for him is that he's a laborer. The loss of use of his right hand really ended his time at work."

Gavin says that after Cole suffered those injuries, Daugherty helped him apply for rental assistance through the State Assistance For Housing Relief program, also known as SAFHR. The federally funded, state-administered program was designed to help people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic to pay their rent, but the RFT reported earlier this week that it was not an uncommon way for Daugherty to receive payments for housing units the city had condemned.

"That money did go straight to her," Gavin says of Cole's SAFHR benefits.

In September, ruling on Gavin's lawsuit, Judge Michael Stelzer hit Daugherty and her LLC with a judgment of more than $1.8 million. Court records suggest neither Daugherty nor her attorney bothered to mount a defense. The judgment written by Stelzer says that she "didn't file responsive pleadings or otherwise defend."

It's unclear how much of that money Cole will be able to collect. Gavin says he is actively working on that now.

"We know that she has properties and so we're looking into whether or not we can collect through those properties," he says.

Bautista LeRoy LLC has published additional details on their law firm website. The law firm is located in Missouri, providing representation for Personal Injuries, Elder and Nursing Home Abuse, Defective Products, Trucking and Auto Collisions, Railroad Crossing Litigation, Wrongful Death, Medical Malpractice, and Civil Rights.

Media Contact
Jose Bautista, BautistaLeRoy, 1 816-221-0382, [email protected], www.bautistaleroy.com

SOURCE BautistaLeRoy