By JEREMY TURLEY/Flatwater Free PressFlatwater Free Press

A class-action lawsuit filed Monday alleges the Omaha Housing Authority ignored and failed to eliminate bed bug infestations at high-rise apartments for low-income residents.

The new lawsuit, brought by a pioneering firm in bed bug litigation, comes after a challenging year for OHA in which the federally funded agency faced a flurry of court cases, new government regulations and mounting public pressure over maintenance issues.

The 15 current and former tenants named in the complaint claim the mostly unchecked biting insects have caused skin irritation, sleepless nights and mental anguish over several years.

The tenants, who represent 10 different OHA buildings with more than 1,000 apartments in total, are asking for monetary damages and a rigorous inspection and bed bug treatment program for the agency’s housing units.

Bed bug litigation specialist Jeff Lipman, an attorney for the residents, said the infestations in OHA are uniquely problematic because of how many buildings they afflict.

“I have not seen a situation where literally every tower in the (housing authority) has got an intense, sustained and this insidious of an infestation,” Lipman said Monday. “This is as bad as I’ve seen it.”

OHA CEO Joanie Balk said the agency takes seriously the treatment and elimination of bed bugs, noting that it employs a recently expanded pest control team and contracts with outside firms.

“Our pest control personnel use the same commercial grade chemicals used by commercial organizations in the community,” Balk said in an emailed statement. “We employ best practices designed for multifamily housing which is endorsed by Housing and Urban Development, the Douglas County Health Department, and the experts with the Nebraska Extension Office.”

The Douglas County Health Department rejected a Flatwater Free Press request for records tied to health officials’ inspections of OHA towers, citing a law that allows investigative agencies to withhold records.

For more than a year, tenants and community activists have publicly raised concerns about the living conditions at central Omaha’s Underwood Tower and other OHA apartment complexes. The sustained outcry generated more than a dozen local news stories last year about alleged pest infestations and mold issues within the buildings.

The agency has long grappled with the challenge of maintaining its aging public housing on a tight budget. Many of its apartment complexes and houses require costly upgrades over the next several years, according to previous Flatwater Free Press reporting.

The Nebraska Legislature passed a bill earlier this year requiring OHA to reform its eviction practices and the makeup of its board after lawmakers criticized the agency’s treatment of vulnerable tenants.

In June, a separate class-action lawsuit alleged OHA had for years illegally overcharged tenants for rent, denied them the right to contest rent hikes and sought to boot them when they could not pay.

That lawsuit, which is ongoing, came after a 2023 Flatwater investigation found that OHA filed to evict several tenants who were eligible for rent exemptions and failed to inform residents of their right to appeal rent increases.

Tenants and their relatives also sued OHA more than a half dozen times last year, alleging poor living conditions and mistreatment by the agency. Most of those lawsuits have been dismissed.

A still-pending 2023 lawsuit alleges OHA’s negligence led to the deaths of two young boys in a South Omaha apartment fire. OHA denied the allegations, according to court records.

The making of a lawsuit

For much of the last year, Paul Feilmann and his big green yard sign calling for better living conditions at OHA were part of the scenery at the corner of Underwood Avenue and 49th Street.

Until recently, the activist’s “office” was a patch of grass under the shade of a maple tree.

“My office hours are every day, and the door’s always open,” Feilmann joked during a September interview.

It’s here where Feilmann, a former therapist living in Yutan, built rapport with public housing tenants who now make up the first plaintiffs recruited to join the bed bugs lawsuit.

Michael Coleman rolled up in his motorized wheelchair on a sunny Friday afternoon.

He told Feilmann that a new in-home aide was going to help him move bug-infested furniture out of his apartment. Then he scolded Feilmann for failing to wear red — Nebraska football faced Illinois later that evening.

The following day, Coleman and a few other OHA tenants sat around a table at A.V. Sorensen Library as Feilmann asked them rapid-fire questions.

“What’s the date you moved into your apartment? … When you moved in, did anyone tell you about bed bugs? … Did you notice bed bugs right away? … Did you tell management?”

Coleman said he first noticed bed bugs shortly after moving into his apartment more than five years ago.

It’s impossible to get a good night’s sleep with the bugs constantly biting him, he said. OHA has come to spray his mattress plenty of times, but the problem isn’t solved, he said. His ex-wife left the apartment because of the infestation.

“She can’t live with bugs, and I don’t blame her,” he said. “That’s why I’m here. I want to get something done with that.”

As the tenants answered, Feilmann filled out forms that he later sent to Des Moines lawyers Lipman and Steve Wandro, who each run their own firms. The tenants’ responses that day — and photos of their welt-covered limbs and bug-riddled belongings — form the bedrock of the lawsuit.

Late last year, Feilmann ventured from his usual spot on Underwood to visit every OHA high-rise complex in search of bug-bitten tenants for the lawsuit. He got a new yellow sign with a direct message: The words “Please report bed bugs” followed by his cell phone number. In the end, he found tenants from 10 towers willing to participate in the litigation.

Attorneys sometimes put more than a year of prep work into class-action lawsuits before they see daylight, but Feilmann believes his presence at the towers and his personal relationships with tenants eased the recruitment of class representatives.

The bed bugs lawsuit landed about five months after Lipman and Wandro first got involved.

The lawyers specialize in bed bug litigation and have sued landlords and hotels across the country. A decade ago, they won a $2.45 million settlement in a first-of-its-kind class-action lawsuit against the owners of two apartment towers in Des Moines.

They have since sued several public housing providers, winning a settlement against the Des Moines Municipal Housing Agency and losing a case against a suburban Chicago housing authority. Neither are involved in a different high-profile class action suit concerning bed bugs in Milwaukee’s public housing.

Over the last 15 years, Lipman has traveled around the country to speak about bed bugs in front of pest control professionals and landlords, according to his website.

Term-limited Nebraska State Sen. Justin Wayne, an attorney, rounds out the legal team for the OHA lawsuit.

Last summer, Balk unveiled plans to create “heat treatment rooms” at Underwood Tower and other buildings where tenants could take bug-infested furniture to be treated. Balk said Monday the first room is already in use.

In a preliminary August meeting with tenants in Omaha, Lipman said the first goal of a lawsuit is to get apartments inspected and bed bugs exterminated with building-wide heat and chemical treatments. Getting financial payouts for tenants could come later, he said.

“For those of you that do get involved in the litigation, you’re going to have to be a warrior,” Wandro told tenants.

Coleman and the other named tenants are the public faces of the lawsuit, but Feilmann hopes a legal victory over OHA would improve the lives of tenants at all of the agency’s 2,500 public housing units. Tenants not named in the lawsuit can participate in the lawsuit later on if a judge approves the class.

Now, Feilmann’s focused on building cohesion amongst his squad and preparing class representatives for what’s to come. When the court dates finally come, he’ll be the one driving the team bus — a rented van with room for 15.

“I’m the coach, they’re the players, the lawyers are the owners,” Feilmann said last week. “We’re entering into league play on Monday.”

This story was originally published by Flatwater Free Press and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.

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