Veridian Apartments eviction cases go before Lexington judge

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Eviction cases from a Lexington apartment complex headed to court Tuesday morning.

Veridian Apartments saw extensive damage during the December deep freeze. Pipes burst in multiple units and several were condemned.

After weeks of issues, The Veridian Apartment Complex filed 13 eviction cases against tenants. Tuesday morning, a judge heard those eviction cases.

The Kentucky Fair Housing Council says they have about 30 applications for assistance from tenants and that they are working to triage who is in the highest need. They say the folks with eviction notices tended to be in the highest need.

Stefanie Ebbens Kingsley, an attorney with the Kentucky Fair Housing Council, says the central issue in these cases is the same, so the council attempted to reach a global solution for all of the tenants involved. However, we’re told legal counsel for Veridian refused and instead each case is being taken individually.

Several tenants failed to appear Tuesday morning and the judge entered judgments for the complex, meaning they will be evicted.

While a couple of cases will go to a jury trial, tenants who did appear and vacated their apartments had their cases dismissed.

“Any time you get a bunch of dismissals, it’s a good day because that means that those families and those kids and those individuals get to keep a roof over their head and stay in their home,” said Kingsley. “So, dismissals are wins. You very rarely get wins in eviction court. So, we will take any wins that we can get.”

Kingsley says she wants people to know that the Fair Housing Council is there to help them if they need assistance.

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