Complaint Review: Orchid Bay LLC/1811 N. Cherokee Ave Building Hollywood CA - Los Angeles California

I moved into an apartment on the groudn floor of 1811 N Cherokee in 2010.

For a while, it was ok except for one serious problem: the presence of an old Latino gang-banger who'd been living there for a long time, probably since the 90s. I believe his name was Marco. He didn't directly harass any of the other tenants, but he caused us problems because he dealt drugs to the assorted drug-addicted scumbags of Hollywood -- most of whom were homeless or small-time criminals -- who would visit him on a regular basis to get their fix. God only knows how many of them would have loved to rob us.

But 1811 N Cherokee is a small courtyard building where we could all keep an eye on each other, I have a very ferocious watchdog, and we had an on-site manager. So it wouldn't have been easy to rob any of us. But still, I was very concerned at the presence of so many criminals freely coming and going from the home of a known drug dealer at my place of residence. (He wasn't dealing a relatively harmless drug like marijuana, either -- the substance appeared to be crack cocaine and he may have been dealing heroin, as well).

I relayed my concerns to the on-site Manager, who at that time was Katherine Voorhees, a nice young Black-Dutch woman. But she didn't want to risk the old gang-bangers wrath trying to get him out. Neither did Walter, a young Asian-American guy who worked as the off-site Manager for Orchid Bay LLC. Katherine had expressed her concerns over the drug-dealer to Walter in the past, but Walter didn't want to hear about it.

I heard through the grapevine that the real problem was the actual Owner of Orchid Bay, whose name remains a mystery, and who deliberately disempowered Walter, but who knows the truth for sure.

I probably should have called the LAPD, but considering my own Management refused to do their job and back me up, I didn't. Since Management was unwilling to call the LAPD or take any action to evict the drug-dealer, I figured it might end up with my having a violent confrontation with a professional scumbag.

I'm a military veteran, so that would have ended very badly for the drug dealer. But I didn't want to risk getting arrested, or risk putting any of the other tenants in harms way if I confronted the drug dealer.

So I did my best to ignore him, his dealing, and the weekly flow of scumbags to and from his apartment.

In March of 2011, my Father passed away and I had to fly back East for the funeral. Unfortunately, the cost of the trip set me back, and as the "Great Recession" had impacted my profession more than most, I could only barely afford to pay my rent for April. But I did.

However by May, I was running behind on my rent, and I was forced to explain to Walter that I was short.

I provided him proof that I was due to receive a sizable inheritance from my Father's estate in short order, and asked for an extension on my rent, providing him with a check for the usual amount plus a late fee, with instructions NOT TO CASH IT UNTIL I HAD THE MONEY IN MY ACCOUNT.  

Well, Walter sent me email after email demanding that I somehow come up with the money immediately despite the fact that I kept explaining that I simply did not have it yet. Finally he deliberately ignored by explicit instructions not to cash the check yet and tried to cash the check anyway.

Of course, it was returned NSF -- and I was then hit with a slew of additional fees from my bank.

Long story short, Orchid Bay refused to work with me despite the fact that I had been a model tenant and a personal emergency was the only reason I was temporarily running behind. They warned me that if I did not somehow magically produce the money immediately, they would file to evict me.

And aftewards, their actions became 100% adversarial.

They served my papers on a Friday night, hoping to prevent me from filing a legal response in time to get my day in court. Fortunately, my Father was not only a Police Officer, but had been to Law School, and was the son of an attorney, so I simply went to the Legal Law Library, figured out what I needed to do, and did it.

In Court, no member of Orchid Bay Management or Ownership was present -- the Owner has been very careful to hide their true identity for uknown reasons -- they simply had their Attorney show up to do their dirty work for them.

I was 100% honest about my part in our dispute (I admitted I had been unable to pay the May rent on time but pointed out the extenuating circumstances of the funeral, the fact that I had always paid on time before, and was otherwise a model tenant who helped keep the premises clean and safe, unlike the drug dealer in the building, who made it more unclean and unsafe) but their attorney had no problem lying on their behalf.

He simply denied that Orchid Bay was willfully tolerating the presence of an active drug dealer in the building. And since I'd never called the LAPD or sued them re: the drug dealer, I couldn't prove it on the spot. 

Tenant-Landlor laws are written to be strongly in favor of landlords, the Judge seemed to side with me a little bit, asking me exacly when I would receive my inheritance. I gave him the exact date, and he asked if I could move out shortly afterwards -- and I agreed, since that would give me a few weeks to sort out my affairs.

So that's what the Judge ruled -- that Orchid Bay, LLC would not be allowed to kick me out immediatley (remember, they had tried to make it difficult for me to even file a legal reponse that would allow me my day in Court) and that I would be allowed to stay for a few more weeks, at which point I would move out.

And so I did. You'd think that would be the end fo the story -- but you'd be wrong.

Several months later, guess what happened? Walter -- or someone else at Orchid Bay LLC -- tried cashing my old rent check from May AGAIN. And it cleared, because I had indeed gotten my inheritance when I said I would. Legally speaking, what Orchid Bay, LLC did by re-cashing that old rent check Fraud, because it was written when we had a legal contractual business relationship which we had mutually agreed to sever.

I talked to my bank Manager at Wells Fargo in Marina Del Rey (where I was then living), who agreed with my assessment of what had just happened -- that Orchid Bay illegally helped themselves to about $1000 from my checking account, and said he'd be happy to help me get justice. 

But I then spoke to the LAPD. And discovered that the LAPD couldn't care less about prosecuting "white collar crimes" because they're too busy chasing down "street crimes". They told me my only recourse was to pursue it in Civil Court. Then Wells Fargo's Manager got overruled by someone above his head somewhere, claiming they "weren't involved" when they allowed Orchid Bay to re-cash a check that they had already tried and failed to cash months prior, when we still had a legal contractual business relationship.

Of course, this was nonsense -- some higher-up at Wells Fargo simply decided it was more convenient for them to claim they weren't involved so they wouldn't have to spend any time or money on the matter of about $1000 of fraud.

If I'd had the kind of money that the owner of Orchid Bay, LLC does and kept an attorny on retainer, here's what I mostly likely would hae been able to do:

I would have been able to have my Attorney threaten to sue Orchid Bay, LLC is they did not call the LAPD on the drug dealer in my building. I would have been able to sue Orchid Bay for fraud, witting negligence, and having their attorney commit perjury on their behalf. I would have been able to have my Attorney tell my Bank Manager to give me something in writing I could use in Court, or else we would have to pursue subpoenas for him and HIS boss who had overruled his initial expressed willingness to help me resolve the fraud. Else we could pursue charges of his and Wells Fargo's having become an "accomplice after the fact" in the fraud. 

Legally speaking, I could have done all of that -- if I could have affored to do it. 

But the cold reality of the way our legal system works is that whoever can afford the best Attorney is the most likely to win any civil suit. And when you've got very little money, you're gong to get very little Justice.

So I figured my odds of winning a lawsuit were 50/50 -- at the very best. 

In all likelihood, retaining even the least-expensive attorney in town, and managing to win my case, would have netted me only a few hundred dollars of my stolen money after attorney's fees -- unless the Judge chose to award me triple damages, or even more money in damages, to drive the point home to Orchid Bay, LLC that they cannot go about defrauding former tenants whenever they d**n well please.

But there's no way of knowing how any Judge will rule until that day comes.

Quite possibly, I would have had to spend more in legal fees than I would have recouped.

And to be honest, I was still very distraught over the loss of my Father. I was emotional and angry with Orchid Bay, LLC. And I decided the time and effort it would take me to mount a proper defense just wasn't worth the amount of time I would have to spend being angry and upset. 

I'll tell you this, though: if I'd had enough money to keep an Attorney on retainer to deal with it on my behalf, I would have instructed him to pursue Justice -- even if it cost me more than it earned me.

Because right is right and wrong is wrong. 

So make no mistake, I've personally experienced both the Owner and Management of Orchid Bay, LLC, who owned and managed the building at 1811 N Cherokee Avenue in Hollywood, CA behaving in a criminally-negligent, adversarial, and fraudulent fashion. I understand they're under new Management now.

But if Orchid Bay, LLC still has the same Owner, I doubt much has changed.

PS I still have the laptop I owned in 2010-2011, and all sorts of files, emails, pictures, etc. pertaining to this matter. So I would strongly advise Orchid Bay, LLC and any of its employees against falsely accusing me of concocting this whole story. I can back up what I've said here, and I haven't forgotten what happened.

The person who wrote this is probably the cocaine dealer who was going to be (and has since successfully been) evicted from the complex after the court ruled against him, or one of his drug mule cronies who are mad they aren't allowed to have their drug ring in the complex anymore. I live there and that individual used to just stand in the courtyard and angry yell like a tantrum throwing child that he couldn't have his 34th bike on the rack. If you don't like the rules of a complex that you don't own, then leave.