February 2, 2026
On February 2nd, 2026, DHKL along with co-counsel Nicholas & Tomasevic, LLP and Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto, obtained preliminary approval of a $43 million class action settlement with Equity Residential in Javanni Munguia-Brown v. Equity Residential. The settlement comes after DHKL and co-counsel’s victory on April 8, 2024, when the Court ruled that Equity’s late fee of 5% of monthly rent, with a minimum of $50, was “null and void” and violated California law.
The settlement requires Equity to restore excessive and unlawful late fees to nearly 200,000 California tenants. Class members who paid late fees will receive refunds amounting to 87% of the amount they paid in excess of Equity’s costs of late rent collection, and those who were charged but did not pay the late fee will get account credits in that amount.
Read the Court’s preliminary approval order here.
Read the settlement agreement here and find more details about the case here.