Settlement secures $125,000 for former residents

Attorney General Kathy Jennings has secured a settlement from Adolph Jay Pokorny to end his nearly fifty-year tenure as one of Wilmington’s most problematic landlords, resolving a multiyear DOJ investigation into Pokorny’s ownership and management of his previously condemned North Adams Street apartments.  The settlement includes monetary recoveries of $125,000 to former residents, as well as Pokorny’s agreement to exit the apartment management business in Delaware within 30 months.

“Mr. Pokorny repeatedly, egregiously, and illegally endangered his tenants in the pursuit of profit,” said Attorney General Jennings. “His actions and their consequences are a tragic reminder of what’s at stake for residents of neglected properties and the legal and moral responsibilities that come with being a landlord.  I’m grateful to our team and to the City of Wilmington for their work on this investigation and on securing compensation for Mr. Pokorny’s victims.”

“The City of Wilmington is most grateful to the Attorney General and her staff for their thorough investigation of the business patterns and actions of a person who brought much misery to people who were entitled to a decent place to live,” said Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki. “As explained in the complaint filed by the DOJ, Pokorny’s neglectful and negligent practices as a landlord over many years came to a head one day in May of 2022 when people living in 27 apartments spread across seven buildings on Adams Street lost their homes. It is only fitting that the person responsible for this tragedy should lose the ability to cause more heartbreak and despair. A special thank you to the City’s Licenses and Inspection and Land Use and Planning teams, who have invested years of time and effort to bring Pokorny into compliance with the law.”

The complaint and consent judgment filed Tuesday in the Court of Chancery were the result of an investigation spanning more than two years that included nearly four dozen interviews and months of deliberations with Pokorny.  As reflected in that complaint, the investigation showed that Pokorny endangered the health and safety of his tenants by eschewing necessary repairs and maintenance of his North Adams Street properties.  What repairs Pokorny did make were superficial at best, designed to placate tenants without remedying the underlying problem. Similarly, when making modifications to the properties, Pokorny often did so with little regard for the consequences of those modifications, such as removing sections of loadbearing walls with no measures taken to address the rerouted load of the building.  Pokorny’s mismanagement and disregard for the long-term health of the properties led them to fall into ruin, culminating in the collapse of a wall on May 15, 2022.

Despite the state of these properties, Pokorny elected to rent them out as they were, without considering the impact on his tenants.  And he did so by preying on those least likely to be able to hold him accountable, allowing him to skirt oversight and consequence.  This continued a pattern and practice the Department of Justice originally investigated and sought to correct via court order in 2002, which addressed many of the same problems discovered during the present investigation.

Pokorny’s decisions at the North Adams Street properties violated that prior court order and the law.   Pokorny likewise violated the law by deceptively marketing the units in these buildings without disclosing their decrepit state or that he failed to maintain or otherwise perform necessary repairs at the properties.

Under the consent judgment, Pokorny shall do all of the following:

• Sell all of his Delaware rental properties;
• Be prohibited from otherwise owning, controlling, or being affiliated with any residential rental properties in the State of Delaware, aside from any primary residence Pokorny may own in the State of Delaware; and
• Allow the City of Wilmington to perform certain pre-rental inspections of any units Pokorny markets, to access any rental unit of any of his properties in the State of Delaware in specific circumstances, and to periodically access the basement and roofs of any of his properties in the State of Delaware.

As part of the settlement, Pokorny will pay $150,000, including $125,000 that will be made available to former residents of his North Adams Street properties. He will also be subject to a suspended judgement of an additional $600,000 if he fails to abide by the agreement.  This settlement is pending judicial approval.

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