VanCott v. Equity Residential

On April 8, 2024, DHKL, along with co-counsel Nicholas & Tomasevic, LLP, and Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto, secured a landmark ruling from the Honorable Jeffrey S. White in the Northern District of California declaring landlord Equity Residential’s Standard Late Fee (5%, minimum $50) unlawful in our long-standing case called Munguia-Brown v. Equity Residential. The Munguia-Brown case covers California tenants who were charged the Standard Late Fee for the first time between September 3, 2010 and October 28, 2022.

Because the Munguia-Brown case does not cover all tenants who were charged the Standard Late Fee, on January 16, 2025, DHKL filed a new case called Van Cott v. Equity Residential, seeking monetary relief for tenants first charged the Standard Late Fee between October 29, 2022 and April 30, 2024 (when Equity stopped charging the Standard Late Fee).

On August 14, 2025, the Court preliminarily approved a $2,934,620 class action settlement in the Van Cott case. Under the terms of the settlement, Equity tenants who were first charged the Standard Late Fee between October 29, 2022 and April 30, 2024 will receive:

  • A refund amounting to the Standard Late Fees they paid, minus $31.98 per late fee to account for Equity’s actual costs of collecting late rent (as calculated by our accounting expert); and/or
  • A credit to their current Equity Residential tenant account balance for any unpaid Standard Late Fee charges, minus $31.98 per late-fee charge.

These payments and credits represent the full value of the late fee restitution that Class Counsel sought in this lawsuit. Notices with the exact amounts of payments and credits will be emailed or mailed to class members on September 12, 2025.

The Court will hold a Fairness Hearing to determine whether to grant final approval of the settlement on January 9, 2026. Please see the Class Notice linked below for more details about the settlement.

Case Documents