JAG Management SCRA Settlement: A Concession Billed After Move-Out

What happened

The United States sued JAG Management Company LLC in the District of New Jersey on September 29, 2023, and Chief Judge Renée Marie Bumb entered a consent order on October 4, 2023. The complaint describes JAG, whose corporate office is in McLean, Virginia, as the manager of Jefferson Place, a 490-unit community of one- and two-bedroom apartments in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, and of more than twenty large apartment properties in states including Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia and Florida (complaint paragraphs 7 and 9). DOJ's release calls the complex Jefferson Mount Laurel.

The complaint's first example is a Coast Guard lieutenant stationed at Sector Delaware Bay in Philadelphia who signed a one-year lease on January 2, 2021 with a $2,010 concession for February 2021. His Rent Concession Addendum said repayment was due only if the lease was "terminated early due to [his] default." After PCS orders to New London, Connecticut on or about May 26, 2021, he gave written notice with the orders on June 7, paid rent through three prorated days in August, and moved out on August 3 with no fees asserted. On or about November 5, 2021 he learned that a collection agency, Hunter Warfield, had been enlisted on behalf of Jefferson Place to pursue $2,120.48 from him. He refused, citing the SCRA; his credit score was downgraded in February 2022 and restored in March after he complained to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (paragraphs 10 to 14). DOJ's release puts the concession at $2,100.

Two others appear by rank. An Air Force staff sergeant who gave notice on January 27, 2021 after deployment orders found $2,673 for concessions added to his bill and paid it on July 13, 2021, fearing a negative credit report. An Air National Guardsman who gave notice on or about June 22, 2021 was told to repay $3,033 because "the lease ha[d] not been fulfilled"; JAG kept his $750 security deposit, and on or about November 5, 2021 he paid Hunter Warfield the $2,364.53 balance it demanded (paragraphs 17 and 18).

DOJ told JAG it was investigating by letter dated May 5, 2022, and the complaint says JAG provided only limited documents (paragraphs 15 and 16). DOJ's release credits a referral from its Servicemembers and Veterans Initiative. JAG denied the allegations, and the order recites that it had already developed new SCRA lease termination policies and training, both approved by the United States, before entry (consent order paragraphs 3, 9 and 13).

The law behind this: 50 U.S.C. § 3955

Termination of residential or motor vehicle leases: read the statute , or read § 3955 in plain English, with its enforcement record .

This resolution reaffirms the Justice Department’s unwavering commitment to protecting the rights of servicemembers, veterans and their families.

Landlords and property managers may not unlawfully penalize members of our armed forces who are simply carrying out their duty.

Who was covered

The nine instances the United States alleged between April 1, 2019 and April 1, 2022 in which JAG demanded repayment of rent concessions from servicemembers terminating under the SCRA, identified by name to JAG (consent order paragraph 18). The complaint describes them as the lieutenant, the staff sergeant, the guardsman and at least six other servicemembers who sought termination in or after January 2021 (complaint paragraph 23), and DOJ's release says the at least eight besides the lieutenant came from the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard and Air National Guard. Co-lessees on those leases shared in any refund.

What the settlement paid

• JAG had 14 days from entry to fund an interest-bearing escrow account with $41,581.95 (consent order paragraph 20), the figure DOJ's case page also gives; its release gives it as $41,581 and announces $61,581 in all.
• Per instance: a refund of any charge the servicemember paid, divided equally with co-lessees on the lease, plus an additional payment of two times the charge JAG imposed, which went to the servicemember (paragraph 19). Payment required the release in Exhibit B, checks were good for six months, and JAG could take no set-off for debts it said the recipients owed (paragraphs 21 to 25).
• Escrow money still undistributed after three years was payable to the Treasury (paragraph 26). Along with the payments, JAG had to ask Equifax, Experian, Trans Union and any other database it reports to, and have its collection agents and attorneys ask, to remove negative entries caused by the charges (paragraphs 29 and 30).
• A $20,000 civil penalty within 30 days (paragraph 31). The order applied to every property JAG manages, required annual SCRA training and notice to the United States of any SCRA complaint within 15 days, and lasted three years from October 4, 2023 (paragraphs 15, 33, 34 and 42).

Why this case matters

The bill can arrive after you are gone. The lieutenant left with JAG asserting nothing further, by the complaint's account, and only in November 2021 heard from a collection agency that the concession was wanted back. Note how the order priced the harm: the refund covered only what a servicemember paid, but the additional payment was two times the charge JAG imposed, so a servicemember who refused to pay still had a charge to measure it by (consent order paragraph 19). His addendum, as the complaint quotes it, made the concession repayable only on an early termination for default, a clause worth finding in your own lease before anyone bills you.