Big Ten Property Management lawsuit in Iowa City goes to court in May

IOWA CITY - A class-action lawsuit against Iowa City Realtor Tracy Barkalow and Big Ten Property Management will go to trial next month.

The lawsuit filed by area lawyer Christopher Warnock of Iowa Tenant's Project is scheduled for a May 3 trial in Johnson County District Court, documents show.

The lawsuit, first filed in 2014, asserts that tenants leases with Big Ten Property Management, managed by Barkalow, included illegal automatic mandatory carpet-cleaning payments or saddling tenants with the costs to damages to building common areas. Leases in the lawsuit are from 2010 through 2012.

Class action has been granted for the lawsuit, which consists of about 160 tenants, Warnock estimates, according to information on the Iowa Tenant's Project website.

The lawsuit claims that such clauses found in the Big Ten Property Management lease violate the Iowa Landlord Tenant Act.

Warnock's Iowa Tenant's Project has lodged a similar class-action lawsuit against Iowa City's largest landlord company Apartments Downtown/Apartments Near Campus. Both parties in the lawsuit, which includes an estimated 14,000 tenants, reached a potential settlement last month.

All told, Warnock estimated the Apartments Downtown case to amount to more than $1 million.

That settlement includes a court order so an Iowa Tenants Project lawyer would handle any future tenant complaints against Apartments Downtown. That lawyer would represent the tenants to ensure fairness while providing more accountability from the landlord, Warnock said.