PRESS RELEASE: SEATTLE, WA. July 28, 2026 — Northwest Justice Project (NJP) and Rivercrest Law PLLC announced today that claims brought by Ms. Aaron Allen and the Estate of Kathleen Allen have been settled for $725,000. Ms. Allen, a former tenant, was left homeless for years after Princeton Property Management Inc. evicted her and Kathleen Allen, her mother, both with disabilities. It is the largest settlement based on a wrongful eviction in Washington history. It was secured by NJP’s Tenant Advocacy Task Force, a novel partnership between NJP and private attorneys that takes landlords who repeatedly disregard tenant rights to court.
“What happened to the Allens wasn’t just wrong — it was egregious,” said John Wolff, the NJP attorney who represented the Allens through much of their ordeal. “Wrongful eviction is not a minor matter. It’s a major injustice, and now landlords and their insurers know it can cost them dearly.”
“Housing is the foundation of a stable life,” said Sebastian Miller of Rivercrest Law PLLC, a solo practitioner who worked with the Task Force. “When it’s taken away, the harm is documentable and substantial. This settlement recognizes that.”
Read the news coverage
- A major injustice: Portland property manager to pay $725,000 for wrongful eviction in Vancouver
KOIN 6, July 31, 2026 - WA renter, landlord agree to $725K settlement in wrongful eviction case
Seattle Times, July 30, 2026 - Property management company to pay Vancouver woman $725,000 settlement over eviction
The Columbian, July 28, 2026
Ms. Allen and her mother Kathleen had lived at Evergreen Village Apartments in Vancouver since 2019 without ever missing a rent payment. Then, in fall 2022, weeks after Ms. Allen underwent a below-the-knee amputation related to diabetes complications, and while her mother was in inpatient rehabilitation, Princeton scheduled an apartment inspection. Ms. Allen asked for more time to prepare, citing her medical condition. Princeton refused, inspected the unit anyway, and issued a three-day eviction notice.
In pain and largely immobile, the Allens signed an agreement with Princeton that allowed them to stay in their apartment. But the agreement also waived their rights under the Washington Residential Landlord-Tenant Act (RLTA). Days later, Princeton used a technicality, a one-day delay in a rent payment caused by Ms. Allen’s medical care, to push through a final eviction order. On April 26, 2023, the Allens were removed from their apartment and made homeless.
Devastating impact of eviction
Homeless, they began working with NJP attorney John Wolff. Together, they decided to take the case to the Washington Court of Appeals. As the case took shape, the eviction took its toll. Kathleen’s health declined rapidly afterward, and she died two days before the Washington Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in the family’s case.
Ms. Allen spent most of the next two years sleeping on the street across from the jail – while trying to recover from her amputation and an infected wound, and to manage her diabetes. The eviction went on her record and she lost her housing voucher, making it impossible to find new housing. With no permanent address, she was unable to use medical transport and get to doctor’s appointments, obtain nursing care, or pick up prescriptions on a regular basis.
Road to justice
Days and months passed. Then came the 2024 Court of Appeals ruling: the eviction was illegal. It ruled that landlord/tenant settlements cannot require tenants to waive their rights under state law. It was a major development for Ms. Allen and tenants statewide. But although it vindicated the Allens, the ruling provided Ms. Allen no relief and did nothing to prevent Princeton Property from continuing to mistreat other tenants.
NJP had recently created the Tenant Advocacy Task Force (TATF) for just such a situation — a partnership between NJP, Washington’s publicly funded legal aid law firm, and private firms willing to represent low-income clients with no guarantee of payment. TATF’s objective: identify and sue landlords who repeatedly violate the state laws meant to protect NJP’s clients.
The partnership works because NJP’s statewide Eviction Prevention Unit can flag landlords whose names keep showing up, case after case — usually large corporate landlords, backed by insurers, acting with seeming impunity. NJP identified Princeton as one of those repeat offenders.
“Legal aid is necessary to make this system work,” said Abigail Daquiz, NJP Executive Director. “If landlords believe tenants are powerless to fight back, there are few limits to the harms our communities will suffer. Our laws protecting people’s right to housing — against discrimination, unsafe conditions, and due process violations — must be enforced. That requires lawyers representing low-income tenants to match landlords’ lawyers. We and our partners are here to hold these landlords accountable.
Power of TATF
Through TATF, NJP referred Ms. Allen’s case to Sebastian Miller of Rivercrest Law PLLC, a solo practitioner who took the case on contingency. Wolff, who had argued the appeal, shared a full case history and legal analysis of its potential claims and value.
Miller then filed a lawsuit against Princeton, claiming that the company illegally evicted the Allens, discriminated against them because of their disabilities, retaliated against them for reporting unsafe conditions in their apartment, and engaged in unfair business practices.
The complaint accused Princeton of violating the Washington Residential Landlord-Tenant Act, the Washington Law Against Discrimination, the federal Fair Housing Act, and the Washington Consumer Protection Act. Everything was fully documented. The lawsuit sought damages for physical and mental health distress and economic harms. It also sought attorney fees and changes in Princeton’s treatment of tenants.
The parties reached the $725,000 settlement shortly before the case was set to go to trial.
What’s next
For Ms. Allen, the settlement is proof that Princeton’s conduct had consequences. “Hopefully, this changes things for other people, so it doesn’t happen to them the way it happened to us,” she says.
She plans to use the settlement to stabilize her life and provide for her two children. “My goal is that everybody who means something to me is taken care of,” she said. “The money is nice and it’ll be helpful but it’s not going to change the person I am.”
“The Allen’s case is more evidence of the power of NJP’s Tenant Advocacy Task Force,” said Scott Crain, NJP’s Director of Advocacy. “It can work at any scale, from partnering with a one-person practice like Miller’s to large firms like K&L Gates, which co-counseled on a case against a repeat-offender landlord in Walla Walla.”
NJP invites other private firms interested in partnering with the Task Force to contact NJP’s Scott Crain, NJP Director of Advocacy, scottc@nwjustice.org and (206) 707-0900