Baltimore jury awards $1M to deaf couple caught in rent-to-own scheme

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A Baltimore City jury has awarded more than $1 million to a deaf couple who said they were deceived into entering a fraudulent rent-to-own agreement in 2018.

The couple’s lawsuit claimed they were scammed by two real estate investors who portrayed themselves as affordable housing providers and sought “down payments” for homes that their customers would never be able to buy.

A jury awarded the plaintiffs, Tyeisha Wallace and George Harris, $250,000 each in noneconomic damages and $10,000 in economic damages. Jurors also determined that the two defendants must pay $250,000 each in punitive damages, according to the lawyers for the plaintiffs.

The defendants are Robert A. Podles and Mikbri LLC, the company that owned the home. The case against Susan Greco, who was also accused of enticing Wallace and Harris to enter into the sham home sale, was stayed because she filed for bankruptcy.

Podles said Friday that he had “no words” for the jury’s verdict, which he said amounted to damages greater than those awarded when people have lost limbs or been sexually assaulted.

“It was a standard lease option agreement,” Podles said of the deal with Wallace and Harris. “Lease options are a very common practice in the marketplace all over the country, let alone the state of Maryland.”

Greco did not respond to a phone message left Friday morning.

The complaint alleged that Podles and Greco defrauded Wallace and Harris by persuading them to enter into a “Pathway to Homeownership” program through the “Maryland Affordable Housing Alliance.” That organization has no connection to the Maryland Affordable Housing Coalition, which advocates for the development of affordable rental housing.

Wallace and Harris sought to buy a home at 4325 Seidel Ave., near Herring Run Park. Both Wallace and Harris are deaf, and Podles did not provide a sign language interpreter. The couple’s child, who was a minor, instead attempted to interpret during the couple’s meetings with Podles, according to the complaint.

The complaint also claims that Podles told the couple they did not need to review the agreement documents with a lawyer and, at a “closing” for the couple’s new home, repeatedly told the couple to look at him so that they could read his lips instead of looking at the documents they were signing.

Podles and Greco led the couple to believe they would eventually be able to buy the home, the complaint claims, and gave them a certificate at closing that said they were on a path to homeownership.

In fact, according to the complaint, the sellers “strung plaintiffs along while extracting thousands of dollars from them before they even signed a lease or option or any rent-to-own agreement.”

The lease agreement was full of fees that would benefit the sellers, the complaint claims. Wallace and Harris were also responsible for repairs to the home, which had plumbing and rodent issues.

The couple moved out in early 2019. They had paid several thousand dollars toward a “down payment” on the home and had signed a confessed judgment note — an instrument that is not meant to be used in housing deals — for more than $13,000.

The sellers had not lent the couple $13,000, but still sought to enforce the note, which also charged 18% interest.

Karen Authement, the lawyer who filed a complaint for the judgment in district court, was also named as a defendant in the couple’s lawsuit. She reached a settlement with the plaintiffs and was dismissed from the suit, court records show.

Authement’s lawyer, Stephan Y. Brennan, said the collection case against the couple was dismissed when Authement learned it involved an improper confessed judgment note.

“The allegations against Ms. Authement focused solely on her representation as a collection attorney in a district court action on a confessed judgment note,” Brennan said. “It was not alleged that she participated in the underlying sales transaction that gave rise to the other complaints.”

He declined to disclose the terms of Authement’s settlement.

The lawyer for the couple, Matthew Vocci, of Santoni, Vocci & Ortega LLC, said he hopes the verdict “sends a message to those who take advantage of vulnerable people in Baltimore City that they will be held accountable. We are pleased that the jury found the defendants liable and awarded significant punitive damages.”