Gibson Dunn Secures Win for Pro Bono Client Against Former Landlord in D.C. Superior Court

In October 2018, after a two-day bench trial before Magistrate Judge Sherry Moore Trafford, Gibson Dunn obtained a victory on behalf of pro bono client Nhai Nguyen against her former landlord.  In January 2018, Ms.  Nguyen, a sixty-eight-year-old Vietnamese immigrant, filed suit in D.C. Small Claims Court, seeking damages for the defendant’s breach of the implied warranty of habitability and his bad faith withholding of her security deposit.  Following closing arguments on October 5, 2018, the Court held that the defendant breached the implied warranty of habitability during Ms.  Nguyen’s tenancy and that the defendant withheld her security deposit in bad faith.  The Court awarded Ms.  Nguyen an abatement of 18 months’ rent and treble damages for the bad faith withholding of her deposit.