In Yakima, Washington, a group of tenants who lived at the Tourist Motel are planning to sue the motel’s owner for wrongful eviction. The Tourist Motel has made headlines in recent months because of its filthy, asbestos-laden state. Back in December, city code officers, health officials, and Department of Labor officials raided the motel after being tipped off about its dangerous condition.

Asbestos was present in a shuttered building on the property. Asbestos exposure is conclusively linked to the development of mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer. The disease typically lies dormant for up to fifty years before an individual begins to suffer from mesothelioma symptoms, and the majority of patients lose their battle with this cancer in less than two years.

Now, a lawsuit has been filed in Yakima Superior Court on behalf of three tenants who say they were wrongfully evicted from the motel. Attorney Kathy Tierney says that the landlord, Rajiv Sauson, improperly evicted these tenants, and should be responsible for the costs of relocating his former tenants. Sauson argues that in order to clean up the motel and bring it up to code he had to evict tenants in order to safely carry out renovations.

"I’m doing everything I can," Sauson said. "I want this place to be clean."

According to Tierney, in this type of situation, Washington state law requires the landlord to provide relocation costs, to the tune of $2,000 per person in this case.

"The landlord owes the funds. We’re just asking for what the law says," Tierney told reporters last week.

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