24-05-2025
Former Aspen Place residents make new allegations in lawsuit against ownership
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Former residents of Aspen Place are suing after the city condemned the apartment complex, giving residents 48 hours to move out.
On Tuesday, May 6, the city condemned the 180 units due to 'significant safety concerns.'
700 residents impacted by Aspen Place Condemnation in Gardner, Kansas
Aric Cooperwood, Anthony Fellows and Rachel Fellows filed the lawsuit on behalf of themselves and residents of Aspen Place, dating as far back as five years ago. They are suing the following companies:
KDR AP, LLC
KDR Realty, LLC
Axiom Property Management, LLC
Axiom Property Management II, LLC
Axiom Equities Investments, LLC
Axiom Family of Companies, LLC
KDR is the current owner and manager of Aspen Place. Axiom sold Aspen Place to KDR in 2022, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims that KDR AP and KDR Realty comprise a family-run business; KDR's president, Puneet Gorawara, is married to KDR's vice president, Aabha Gorawara – and their daughter, Gauri, performs property-management services.
Axiom is accused of potentially failing to disclose the ongoing issues and 'abject state' of Aspen Place before selling the property to KDR.
The lawsuit claims that 700 residents were wrongfully evicted due to KDR's negligence and accuses ownership and management of failing to provide essential services, among other violations.
'The water lines at Aspen Place had presented significant long-term maintenance problems affecting the delivery of essential services to tenants (such as water) well before the condemnation,' the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit claims this was an avoidable disaster since ownership and management were aware of these long-running issues. Residents, however, were not made aware of what they were getting themselves into, the lawsuit argues.
'The systemic water-related problems at Aspen Place…were not disclosed to eventual residents before they entered their leases,' the lawsuit states.
Despite KDR's claims that it planned to 'completely overhaul' Aspen Place's water system, the lawsuit argues that more evidence is needed to determine whether KDR could have actually afforded a complete overhaul.
It accuses the company of secretly pushing off some of its maintenance costs to tenants by charging them monthly fees for 'liability landlord insurance' and an 'administrative fee.'
'It seems that KDR here unconscionably passed the cost of its own general liability policy(ies) onto its tenants,' the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit claims that Cooperwood's lease agreement also contained other unfair, as well as unclear, terms and charges.
'KDR shamelessly nickel-and-dimed the Aspen Place tenants,' the lawsuit claims.
According to the lawsuit, KDR began charging tenants for utilities, including water, via a lease addendum beginning in late 2023.
The lawsuit says KDR claimed in the lease that it would not be responsible for water overflow/leakage, mold or utility interruption[s].
'These terms…were unconscionable, if not overtly unlawful,' the lawsuit states.
'KDR charged tenants every month for its own liability insurance and required them to purchase outsized liability policies with KDR as an insured, while making it evident that water-related problems were a primary concern, and while requiring tenants to pay the actual utility bills…while also failing to reliably supply water.'
The lawsuit claims KDR even began requiring tenants to pay a 'water-usage fee,' which was based on the number of people living in the complex, not the tenant's actual 'usage' of water.
KDR is accused of taking part in some sort of 'insurance arbitrage scheme.'
The lawsuit says KDR pushed off these costs onto residents through lease addendums that were sometimes added to lease agreements during lease terms.
In the lawsuit, KDR's property management is called 'absurdly inadequate' and 'functionally nonexistent.'
'KDR was exceedingly slow to respond to burst pipes, while also leaving visible leaks unrepaired for months, which caused property damage,' the lawsuit states.
'KDR tactically used unconscionable insurance-related conditions and practices as a shield relative to its own property-management and ownership deficiencies.'
The lawsuit argues that KDR may have profited from its insurance and utility-billing practices.
'Discovery is required into KDR's utility-related billing practices, including but not limited to inflation, manipulation, and/or misrepresentation of consumer water bills,' the lawsuit reads.
According to the lawsuit, KDR demanded that the Fellowses sign a new utility addendum after a water outage during Christmas 2023, when residents dealt with persistent water outages for at least two weeks.
The lawsuit says the Fellowses encountered substantial mold and mildew issues as a result of pipe bursts and leaks, as well as sewage backup. However, KDR never fixed the sewage drain that was malfunctioning just outside their unit, the lawsuit claims.
The lawsuit also claims that KDR would mark maintenance requests 'complete' despite having done nothing – or leave requests dangling in 'contractor status' indefinitely.
In January 2024, the lawsuit says KDR rejected the Fellowses' lease-renewal application 'because the Fellowses had left negative reviews about it online and Rachel Fellows had appeared in the news with respect to KDR's mismanagement.'
In order to have the application accepted, 'KDR compelled Ms. Fellows to delete the negative reviews in its presence.'
The property manager quit shortly after this incident, the lawsuit states.
The former Aspen Place residents are demanding a jury trial for all issues so triable.
This lawsuit was filed on May 16, 2025, in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas, Kansas City Division (Case No. 2:25-CV-2267).Community steps up to help after Gardner apartment condemned
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