Community Corner

Employees Band Together to Sue Washington Harbour Owners

The initial suit filed April 20 by a single named plaintiff against the owners of the Washington Harbour complex was dismissed and a new filing was entered June 15.

The lawsuits against RP MRP Washington Harbour, L.L.C., the owners of the Washington Harbour complex on the Georgetown Waterfront, continue. The attorneys for the plaintiffs refiled a suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against RP MRP Washington Harbour on June 15 listing 39 additional plaintiffs, according to the Washington Business Journal. The plaintiffs are all employees or owners of the various restaurants and businesses impacted by the .

The original complaint, filed by Farmer's and Fisher's bartender Charles "Dylan" Holcomb was dismissed and closed June 13, 2011. The suit had mis-named the defendant in the original filings and was dismissed. (See attached PDF)

The class action suit seeks to "recover economic losses" suffered by the employees of the Washington Harbour complex businesses who were unable to work after the April flood. The plaintiffs blame the flooding on the failure of the property management company to raise the flood walls, which would have prevented the flood.

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According to court documents raising the flood walls costs approximately $15,000 and takes about five hours and have been raised some 60 or 70 times since the waterfront project was completed. The plaintiffs assert that sufficient warning was given to the defendant to take the appopriate actions to protect the complex from the Potomac's rising rivers.

Though several businesses have since re-opened, such as and , Farmer's and Fishers remains closed.

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The property company has 45 days to respond to the filing, putting the deadline at the end of July.

The law firm representing the plantiffs, Mason, LLP, specializes in consumer class action suits and is currently working on class actions in Louisiana and Alabama in response to the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.


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