Texas Justices Consider Class Status in Student Tenant Suit

Texas Supreme Court justices Wednesday questioned whether absent former student tenants have standing to seek civil penalties for alleged violations of the state property code, in a case that could reshape the future of representative action in the Lone Star State.

American Campus Communities Inc., a group of over 30 landlords of university apartments, faces potential claims of 80,000 former tenants seeking statutory damages estimated to be more than $100 million. Several student tenants sued, alleging that lease provisions waiving landlords’ duty to make repairs violated statutory anti-waiver provisions. They also alleged that landlords failed to include mandated disclosures in ...