A homebuyer has accused the sellers from whom she purchased of fraud, saying they should pay for failing to disclose that the house she purchased on Capp Street was not in a "fun and spunky neighborhood," but actually located in a high crime neighborhood that turned at night into a hotbed for prostitution, gangs and human trafficking.
In the lawsuit filed in San Francisco Superior Court, Kristie White alleges that the sellers, Jack Souders and Elizabeth Colleen Coolidge, and their real estate agent, Christine Mason "acted in concert" to witthold information about the surrounding neighborhood.
"Immediately after moving into the property with her two teenage daughters, Plaintiff was shocked and dismayed to learn that the neighborhood around the property completely changes come nightfall into one overrun with crime, prostitution, and human trafficking," the suit states.
The defendants had a "duty to inspect and every reason to know that the property suffered from outrageous and significant problems and crime, including nighttime prostitution and human trafficking, gang activity and crimes involving damage to property, and yet they failed to disclose these issues to Plaintiff, who was ignorant of these very material facts," White states. "As such, Plaintiff was duped into buying the property to her extreme detriment."
Immediately after moving into the house, White found that "starting at around midnight, one has no choice but to hear the screaming, gunshots, sounds of women being beaten, and the sounds of the parade of sex workers, pimps, johns, and gangs that plague this area of Capp Street at night," the suit states.
White's teenage daughters have seen sex workers "being chased down the street by a pimp with a hammer, being pistol-whipped and beaten up, seeing sex workers forced into a car against her will, etc."
White seeks actual damages and general damages for pain, suffering and emotional stress, punitive damages plus attorney fees and court costs.
She is represented by Steven R. Roeser and James E. Burns of Stimmel, Stimmel & Roeser, P.C.
Dr. Kristie White v. Jack Souders et al. San Francisco Superior Court CGC-23-608396.