Landlord hit with $500 daily fine

July 3 -- Will Sherard, who for three years failed to comply with a federal court order to repair his properties, is being fine $500 per day per housing unit until he does so, according to federal court documents.

Sherard's last-ditch effort to avoid repairing the properties failed Tuesday when US District Judge Joseph P. Stadtmueller hit him with the fine, which started accumulating Wednesday.

The consent decree required Sherard to complete window replacement and lead-based paint hazard abatement work on 39 residential properties by July 2008 and July 2010, respectively, according to a letter from Assistant US Attorney Stacy Gerber Ward to Stadtmueller.

There are now 64 properties in question, according to the federal government.

The civil complaint filed by the feds alleged that Sherard failed to warn tenants that the lead paint in apartments he rented to them that could poison their children.

Sherard last month sought to have the abatement order modified or dismissed. He said he wanted to seek federal funding to help offset the cost of the lead-abatement efforts. Sherard said he planned to sell the properties once they were repaired.

"As a small businessperson I have to keep my options open for the most economical situation that is available to me," Sherard wrote last month in a letter to Stadtmueller. "I am a small business, I am a minority business, and I am a senior citizen. At this time I have undergone major surgery. Being a small business means operating on the cash flow of your business operations. All these factors suggest that I have to be frugal in trying to compete and survive in business. Being forced into economical situations beyond my means would be my downfall."

Sherard's lawyer, Stanley Lind, said the properties were unusual in that they were in the central city. Real estate values have fallen, he said. Sherard has paid $15,000 in penalties and $37,000 for a risk assessment related to the abatement order, Lind said.

Gerber Ward, however, said Sherard has not helped the government assess his financial situation.

Stadtmueller said he found no reason to vacate or modify the order.