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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Judge rules in favor of Whittle School’s D.C. landlord in lawsuit over unpaid rent claims

A D.C. Superior Court judge has ruled in favor of the landlords of the Whittle School’s now-shuttered D.C. campus, allowing them to repossess the building and forcing the private school company to pay roughly $35 million in overdue rent and real estate taxes.

As part of a remote hearing Thursday, Judge Jorge Vila ruled to enforce the landlords' lien against the Whittle School & Studios, which they said had owed $27.2 million in unpaid rent and real estate taxes between April 2020 and May 2022, plus another nearly $8.1 million since then. In June, the landlords had terminated its sublease agreement with the Whittle School and filed a civil case in the D.C. Superior Court's landlord and tenant branch to evict the school from the 650,000-square-foot building located at 4000 Connecticut Ave. NW. The school closed soon after, in July, citing financial strains.

The building's owners — real estate firms 601W Cos. of New York City and Berkley Properties LLC of Nanuet, New York — were represented by attorney Louis Rouleau of Holland & Knight LLP. Neither Chris Whittle, CEO and chairman of the Whittle School & Studios,[b] nor any counsel on behalf of the private education company attended the hearing[/b].

“The amounts at issue are unusually large, and getting larger every month,” Rouleau told the judge during the hearing. “There’s no way back.”

Chris Whittle confirmed to the Washington Business Journal that the Whittle School has vacated the building, declining to comment further. It’s unclear if he has representation; no counsel is listed in the court docket for the defendant.

Neither Mark Karasick, 601W’s managing director, nor a Berkley Properties spokesperson, responded to requests for comment. Rouleau did not respond to requests for comment.

As of Thursday afternoon, the final judgment has yet to be entered into the court docket.

[/quote]

Is it typical not to send an atty at all? Does it indicate anything that they didn't or are they just filing bankruptcy papers so they don't bother dealing with this stuff?[/quote]

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