ANJALI DALAL-WHELAN / NEWS EDITOR 

Some USD students are hoping to receive restitution for the potentially dangerous conditions they experienced in an off-campus apartment building. As students begin to sign leases for next school year’s housing, a civil complaint filed by the San Diego City Attorney is still pending against the carl on Lauretta, a USD-alumni owned, off-campus apartment building that mainly houses students.

Residents of the carl on Lauretta have faced a variety of challenges   with   their   housing over the 2023-24 academic year. On Nov. 9   The USD  Vista published an article reporting on issues that students had faced while    living    in  the carl on Lauretta.

These challenges included a  delayed move in and non functional elevators. Residents received notices to vacate from the City of San Diego in the fall, but were told to ignore them by building management. After the notices stopped being zip-tied to residents’ doors, they thought the situation had been resolved, however, the controversy around the building was only beginning. 

On Dec. 4,  The San Diego City Attorney’s Office filed a civil enforcement complaint against the owners of the carl on Lauretta,  alleging  that the owners violated San Diego Municipal Code and California Business and Professions Code, by allegedly issuing leases without the required certificate of occupancy. The complaint listed the owners as, “The Mogaford Capital Group LLC,  a  California   Limited Liability Company, doing business as Crawford Design & Development; Michael Crawford, an individual; HUGS International corporation, a Delaware Corporation; Carl-Olivier Dumesle, an individual.” 

Both individuals listed in the complaint, Michael Crawford and Carl-Olivier Dumesle are USD alumni. 

In    an   interview with NBC 7, San Diego City  Attorney Mara Elliot provided details on the complaint. 

According to Elliot, the developers did not obtain the proper   permits     before    they    began     building the carl on Lauretta.

“Before you take major steps to demolish that single-family dwelling, the owner needed to come to the city to get a demolition permit. They didn’t do that,” Elliot told NBC. 

One of the major issues brought up by Elliot was that the fire alarms were not operational for some of the time residents lived in the carl on Lauretta. 

 “Code enforcement, the fire department went out dozens of times to that property to let them know, ‘hey, we looked at your systems and they are not in compliance,’” Elliot said.

USD senior and the carl on Lauretta resident Olivia Wiley learned that the fire alarms were not  operational   for  part of  the   time  she    lived in the  building   from the news reports. She described her reaction to seeing the news. 

“We knew that they were having trouble with  [the fire alarms], but we didn’t know the extent of the trouble,” Wiley said. “I  just   was  kind   of stressed about not having   working   fire alarms to be honest.  If I had a fire then what  are we   going to do? Like in the middle   of    the   night,   just not wake up? It was kind of  scary.” 

Wiley explained what has changed at the carl on Lauretta, since the civil enforcement complaint was filed.

 “We got new management last month.  The  old   management company I think was fired by the owner.” Wiley said. “They [the new management company] have been more responsive to emails and stuff.”

 Wiley explained  that the new management  had  been  responsive to issues such   as fixing a broken lock and replacing the fire alarm batteries.  However, the elevators  are  still   not operational. 

According to the City of San Diego Development Services Department, the carl on Lauretta still has two uncompleted inspections. The city’s website states    that   “not  all final inspections are completed and passed.” 

Andrew Sharp, the Director of Strategic Communications for the office    of the City Attorney provided an update on the civil complaint on March 4. 

“The property is still in violation of the San Diego Municipal Code and California Business and Professions Code sections 17200 through 17210,” Sharp stated.  “We have requested injunctive relief, civil penalties, and restitution for impacted residents.” Injunctive relief restrains parties from acting in certain ways, civil penalties are fines payed to the government. 

Wiley says she thinks she should receive restitution or recompensation. 

“I   think  that for the amenities like the elevator, I think there  should be some sort of back pay,” Wiley said.

“Especially because I live on the fourth floor, so I have to walk up the stairs every day, lug my groceries up there, moving in was not fun.”

USD senior Elle Kallsen, another resident of the carl on Lauretta, explained she had considered the idea of asking for restitution for her experiences living in   the building. 

 “I  intend to   look    through my lease and see what I   signed and reflect on what was accurate and what was   not   accurate  during my   time at  the carl”   Kallsen   said. 

The USD Vista contacted Michael Crawford by email and messaged and called Carl-Olivier Dumesle but did not receive a response from either.   

The building’s owners have not responded to requests for comment. 

As reported by    The USD Vista,  USD  entered   a partnership with the carl and associated properties  last summer due to a lack of on-campus housing. USD discovered issues  with   the housing and moved students leased through USD out of the affiliated buildings last fall. 

USD Director of Media Relations Lissette Martinez provided an update on USD’s partnership with the carl on behalf of USD.

“The University of San Diego terminated its relationship with the Carl. USD is not currently partnering with Carl or its holding company, the Mogaford Capital Group,   and   there are no plans to do so in the future,” Martinez stated.  

Many residents of the carl on Lauretta   will  be   moving out when their   leases  end in June, but according to City Attorney Mara Elliot,  the   civil enforcement     complaint   could  take   months or years to be   resolved. 

The carl on Lauretta’ was newly developed in 2023, but has run into issues in its first year. Lili Kim/The USD Vista