College Graduate Awarded Nearly $700K in Damages After Landlord Emptied His Apartment Despite Paying Rent

A lawsuit filed in 2022 alleged that the management company was unresponsive regarding compensation for student Ansel Postell, whose belongings were removed

• In a complaint filed in 2022, Ansel Postell, a student at Benedict College, accused Campus Advantage of removing his belongings from his apartment, even though his mom paid his rent for the next six months

• Postell, an honors student, claimed in the complaint that the incident caused an emotional burden for him

• Last month, a jury found Campus Advantage negligent and in breach of contract with Postell

A college graduate was awarded nearly $700,000 in damages in court — thanks to a South Carolina law — after he said his former landlord emptied out his apartment despite the rent having been paid.

Per a court document filed in Richland County on Sept. 24, a jury awarded Ansel Postell a whopping $692,000 on Sept. 19, after he submitted a 2022 lawsuit against Campus Advantage, a student housing investment and property management company that oversaw his former apartment The Rowan.

According to the original complaint, Postell, an honors student at Benedict College in Columbia, was notified by The Rowan via email on July 11, 2022, about a move-out day that was scheduled to take place in 14 days.

Postell forwarded the email to his mother, who then informed The Rowan that her son was going to renew the lease for his apartment, thus making it unnecessary for him to move his belongings, the document read.

On July 18, 2022, per the complaint, Postell's mother sent a check to The Rowan for $3,810, which consisted of six monthly rent payments to fulfill the terms for renewing the lease. Seven days later, according to the suit, the $3,810 check cleared the bank account of Postell's mother.

The complaint added that Postell returned to Columbia on Aug. 5, 2022, to start another semester at Benedict College. When he entered his apartment, Postell discovered that all of his personal belongings disappeared. He contacted his mother, who in turn reached out to The Rowan to straighten out the matter.

According to the complaint, a representative for The Rowan acknowledged to Postell's mother that her son's belongings were "improperly removed and also not stored correctly and were therefore ruined or destroyed."

Over the next few weeks, the complaint alleged, representatives for The Rowan had corresponded with Postell's mother and assured her that the items "would be replaced or just compensation would be given to Postell."

Yet, said the court document, Postell's mother had not heard from The Rowan further about resolving the situation, prompting her and her son to seek legal counsel on Aug. 23, 2022.

“As a result of the Defendant’s acts or omissions resulting in the lost or stolen items,” the complaint stated, “Postell and his mother have been forced to suffer the worry and fear of having to replace each of these items as well as the cost of doing the same.”

The lawsuit also said the incident left an emotional burden on Postell, so much so that he had to miss the first days of the new school year, "placing his semester’s performance in jeopardy and also risking several scholarships and benefits for which Postell had previously earned."

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Following a four-day trial, the jury deliberated for three hours, per The State and HBCU Buzz, and eventually awarded Postell $230,000 in damages and $462,500 in punitive damages.

According to a jury verdict form dated Sept. 19, 2024, Campus Advantage was found liable for the conversion of chattels of Postell's property and for breach of contract with Postell. The jury also found that Campus Advantage violated South Carolina's Unfair Trade Practices Act and was negligent in its duties to Postell and in the hiring and training of its employees.

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“I’m glad I was given the opportunity for this to be taken up in court, and the jury was able to make a decision on the evidence that we provided,” Postell told The State following the verdict. 

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Campus Advantage would be now required to pay two years’ of interest at 8% per year under the law, according to Postell's attorney, Todd Lyle, per The State.

Lyle and the law offices of the attorneys representing The Rowan, Charles Blackburn and Timothy VanDenBerg, did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

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