Kushner family rental company owes MD tenants over $4M, judge rules

A Baltimore judge entered a $4.17 million judgment Tuesday in favor of a class of over tenants who were charged illegal fees by the property management wing of Kushner Cos., the development group co-owned by President Donald Trump’s son-in-law.

Partially granting the class’s motion for summary judgment, Circuit Judge Paul J. Cucuzzella found the firm, Westminster Management, was liable for violating Maryland’s cap on late rent payment fees and breaching the terms of its leases.

The parties are still slated to go to trial over a few relatively small issues, such as the exact amount of interest owed. But Tuesday’s ruling resolved the “vast majority” of the dispute after nearly nine years in court, and the plaintiffs’ legal team is looking forward to getting those funds back in the hands of the tenants, said Matt Hill, a managing attorney at the Public Justice Center and co-counsel for the class.

Spokespeople for Kushner Cos. did not immediately return a request for comment.

The real estate business’ ownership split between its founder, family patriarch and current United States Ambassador to France and Monaco Charles Kushner, his wife, and their four children. The eldest, Jared, is married to Ivanka Trump and has held various official and informal roles in the White House roles during her father’s presidencies, currently as a special peace envoy. He was the CEO of the family real estate business for about a decade.

The plaintiffs had accused Westminster Management of engaging in a scheme in which the firm charged tenants at 17 Maryland apartment complexes late fees in excess of the 5% limit set by state law. It designated those fees as “rent” in its leases and misapplied tenants’ payments to claim that rent was still due, obtain a faster eviction and pressure tenants to pay, the class said.

In a statement, lead plaintiff Tenae Smith called Tuesday’s ruling a “monumental step” in the lengthy span of litigation. The class plaintiffs are represented in court by attorneys from Baltimore law firm Brown Goldstein & Levy LLP; Timonium-based Santoni, Vocci & Ortega LLC; and the nonprofit Public Justice Center. The defendants have been represented by lawyers from national law firms including Baker Donelson and Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP.

Filing the case in 2017, the class of tenants hit a major roadblock in 2020, when another Baltimore judge granted Westminster’s motion for summary judgement and threw out the case.

But the Appellate Court of Maryland revived the claims three years later, and the Maryland Supreme Court affirmed the decision. While the class-action suit was in limbo, the property management firm also paid a $3.25 million penalty in 2022 to settle separate consumer protection claims brought by then-Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, who described Westminster as a “prolific” filer of evictions.

The class was certified in 2025 and includes all current and former tenants at Westminster-managed properties in Maryland who were charged fees related to the alleged late payment of rent since September 27, 2014, and paid them.

In April, on the same day that the plaintiffs filed their successful summary judgment bid, Westminster also filed a motion attempting to decertify the class. Its attorneys said recent discovery had revealed that class member damages “cannot be determined through an objective, mechanical review of … tenant ledgers” and said the process required individualized evidence testing.

In his Tuesday order, Cucuzzella rejected Westminster’s motion, finding that it failed to establish there was any new evidence that called the original factual premise for certification into question.

Andrew D. Freeman, a partner at Brown, Goldstein & Levy, said in a Tuesday statement that the plaintiffs are “grateful that the court saw through Westminster’s efforts to obfuscate and delay.” He said that because of the state supreme court’s ruling in their favor, “the trial court found the damages were simple math, adding up the illegal fees paid by tenants.”

Cucuzzella’s decision permanently enjoined Westminster from collecting any fees in dispute and ordered for the parties to clear trial dates by July 24. The trial will determine remaining issues including the damages for a time period where data is missing from the one property and the amount of prejudgment interest to be assessed, which will be at least $2 million, according to a joint news release from the plaintiffs’ attorneys.