LaVista Walk Apartment Fire Settlement

About 283 residents can claim. The LaVista Walk Apartment Fire Settlement covers one apartment complex on one night — everyone who lived at The Reserve at LaVista Walk, 1155 LaVista Road, Atlanta, Georgia, on November 10, 2023, the night of the fire. Defendants' leasing records list 283 registered occupants, so this is a very small, closed class and not a general apartment-fire or renters' settlement: a fire at another property, or living at this complex at any other time, does not qualify you. For adults the two benefits stack on a single claim form — an equal share of a fixed $1,300,000 displacement pool, which class counsel estimates at about $4,594 per adult, plus a pro rata share for documented property losses. Two caps are easy to misread. The $1,300,000 limits only the displacement side, not the settlement, and the $8,450,000 headline is the gross fund before attorneys' fees of up to one-third, litigation expenses, administration and taxes — the net fund is estimated at about $5,300,000. Children are paid on different terms: a child receives a flat $2,500 that settles the child's entire claim, with no displacement share and no property-loss share on top. The property-loss pool is also shared on equal footing with the insurance companies that already paid residents' fire claims, so recognized losses are paid at a fraction of their value if total claims exceed the pool. File by November 22, 2026 at lavistafiresettlement.com. The defendants deny liability and contend the fire was caused by a criminal act by a tenant.

Do I Qualify?

You may be eligible if:

• You lived at The Reserve at LaVista Walk apartments, 1155 LaVista Road, Atlanta, Georgia, on November 10, 2023 — the night of the fire. Residency on that one date is the whole test; living at the property before or after it does not qualify you
• You are a natural person. Adults who were 18 or older on November 10, 2023 and minor children who were under 18 are both in the class, but they are paid on completely different terms — an adult shares the displacement pool and can claim property losses, while a child receives only a flat $2,500 that settles the child's entire claim
• Eligible states: none, in the usual sense. This is a single-property class, so where you live now is irrelevant — a former resident anywhere in the country qualifies on the same terms. Living in Georgia, or renting at another Atlanta property, does not qualify you
• Insurers are class members too. An insurance company that paid a resident's fire-related property claim and holds subrogation or assignment rights is itself in the class, files through a separate subrogation claim form, and shares the property-loss pool on equal footing with residents — which is why documented property losses are unlikely to be paid in full
• You are not in an excluded group. The class does not include Charnelle Gunn or Robert Stokes, anyone who already settled, assigned or obtained a final judgment on their fire-related claims, or anyone who validly opts out
• You submit a valid claim form by November 22, 2026 and your residency on November 10, 2023 is verified. Each adult co-resident files a separate claim form, and a parent or legal guardian files for each child

Every claim requires proof of residency at The Reserve at LaVista Walk on November 10, 2023, plus your unit number. The claim form states that if your name appears in the property's leasing records, further proof may not be required; otherwise you attach a lease or rental agreement, a rent receipt or ledger, or a utility bill for the unit. The displacement claim asks for nothing beyond that — no receipts and no valuation of what the disruption cost you — because every adult who files a valid, residency-verified claim receives the same amount. A property-loss claim is a different matter and is where the documentation burden falls: you list each item or category with a description, an approximate purchase date and the value claimed, and attach supporting records — receipts, invoices or bank and credit-card records, photographs or video, repair or replacement estimates, or a signed itemized inventory — along with records of any insurance payments you received. The administrator's adjuster sets the recognized amount and is not bound by any valuation you supply. A claim for a child needs proof of the adult's authority to act, such as a birth certificate, the child's residency, and the last four digits of the child's Social Security number; adults are also asked for the last four digits of their SSN or TIN. If your claim is incomplete the administrator sends a deficiency notice and gives you 30 days to cure it, and you may ask for reconsideration within 30 days of a decision you believe is wrong.

What Happened?

On the night of November 10, 2023 a fire swept through The Reserve at LaVista Walk apartments at 1155 LaVista Road in Atlanta, Georgia, forcing residents out of the building and destroying or damaging their personal property. Residents sued the property's owners and managers — LHNH LaVista LLC, LHNH LaVista TIC II, LLC, LHNH LaVista TIC III, LLC, Silverpoint Management, LLC and Avenium Group, LLC — alleging they were responsible for the fire and the resulting displacement and property losses. The defendants deny the claims and any liability, and contend the fire resulted from a criminal act by a tenant. The motion for preliminary approval notes that proving causation in a fire case would require a contested battle of the experts, and no court has found that any defendant did anything unlawful.

The case is Lanz, et al. v. LHNH LaVista LLC, et al., Case No. 1:23-cv-05344-LMM, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, before U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May. The complaint was filed on November 20, 2023 by class representatives Alexander Lanz, Alyssa Greene, Shanaya Dessin and Vincent Leija. After more than two and a half years of litigation and mediation the parties agreed that the defendants would pay $8,450,000 into a settlement fund, and the court granted preliminary approval on August 24, 2026, certified the settlement class and appointed Simpluris, Inc. as settlement administrator. Notice was mailed beginning September 23, 2026. Class counsel are The Brosnahan Law Firm, Dean Thaxton LLC, and Epps Holloway DeLoach & Hoipkemier, LLC; no service awards are payable to the named plaintiffs, and punitive, exemplary and treble damages are not available under the settlement.

All three of the claim, opt-out and objection deadlines fall on the same day, November 22, 2026. The final approval hearing is set for January 5, 2027 at 1:30 p.m. Eastern at the federal courthouse at 75 Ted Turner Drive SW, Atlanta, Georgia, and the notice warns the hearing may be moved or held remotely. One term is worth knowing before you decide to opt out: each valid adult opt-out sends $26,000 of the fund back to the defendants, and if 15 or more class members validly opt out the defendants have the right — but not the obligation — to terminate the whole settlement. Opt-outs filed on behalf of a child generate no reversion and do not count toward that threshold. The court has not ruled on final approval, and no payment date has been announced; payments follow final approval, the resolution of any appeals, and claim processing.

How to File Your Claim

1. File online at lavistafiresettlement.com, which accepts document uploads — this is the fastest route and lets you check your claim status and respond to administrator requests afterwards
2. Or download the printable claim form from the Important Documents page at lavistafiresettlement.com and email it to info@LaVistaFireSettlement.com, or mail it to LaVista Fire Settlement, c/o Settlement Administrator, P.O. Box 25191, Santa Ana, CA 92799
3. You can also email info@LaVistaFireSettlement.com or call the toll-free helpline at (833) 421-7358 to ask for a paper claim form
4. Each adult co-resident must submit a separate claim form to be paid from the displacement pool — one form does not cover everyone in the unit
5. A parent or legal guardian submits a claim form for each child who lived at the property on November 10, 2023
6. Claim the displacement payment and the property-loss payment on the same form if you qualify for both
7. they stack, and claiming one does not forfeit the other
8. Attach proof of residency and, for any property-loss claim, an itemized list with supporting documents and records of insurance payments received
9. Insurance companies holding subrogation or assignment rights use the separate subrogated-insurer form on the settlement website, not the resident claim form
10. ALL THREE DEADLINES ARE THE SAME DAY: the claim, opt-out and objection deadlines are all November 22, 2026, and the official sources give a date with no timezone
11. Before opting out, note that each valid adult opt-out returns $26,000 of the fund to the defendants, and 15 or more valid opt-outs give the defendants the right to terminate the entire settlement
12. Filing is free
13. you are not charged for class counsel
14. Visit the official claim form: https://www.lavistafiresettlement.com/

How Much Will I Actually Get?

TWO BENEFITS THAT STACK FOR ADULTS. The defendants pay $8,450,000 into a settlement fund. After court-approved attorneys' fees of up to one-third, litigation expenses, administration costs, taxes and any opt-out reversions are deducted, the remainder is the Net Settlement Fund, which the settlement plan estimates at approximately $5,300,000. The net fund is divided into exactly two pools, and an adult claimant can receive money from both on one claim form. DISPLACEMENT PAYMENT — A FIXED $1,300,000 POOL. A fixed $1,300,000 is set aside and divided equally, per capita, among every adult class member who files a valid, residency-verified claim. Class counsel's filing puts that at about $4,594 per adult based on the 283 registered occupants in the defendants' leasing records, and calls roughly $4,500 a minimum. Because the pool is a fixed dollar amount split equally, the share moves the opposite way from most settlements: if fewer adults file, each filer gets more, not less. This payment compensates displacement, inconvenience, mental distress and the cost of finding new housing, it requires no valuation of what the disruption cost you, and an adult whose property loss nets to zero still receives it in full. Minor children and insurers do not share in this pool. PROPERTY LOSS PAYMENT — PRO RATA, AND SHARED WITH INSURERS. The Property Loss Pool is whatever is left of the net fund after the $1,300,000 displacement pool is set aside — approximately $4,000,000 on the filing's own estimate. The administrator's adjuster reviews each itemized submission and sets a recognized amount, then pays the pool out in proportion to those recognized amounts. Class counsel expects the mean property-loss claim to be about $20,000 before any reduction. That $20,000 is not what a claimant receives: the pool is fixed, so every recognized claim is multiplied by the same pro rata percentage, and if total claims exceed the pool everyone is paid a fraction of their recognized loss. Insurance companies that paid residents' fire claims and hold subrogation rights file their own claims into this same pool and receive the identical pro rata percentage — neither residents nor insurers are senior to the other, so insurer claims directly reduce what residents collect. CHILDREN ARE PAID DIFFERENTLY, NOT ADDITIONALLY. Each class member who was under 18 on November 10, 2023 receives a flat $2,500, claimed by a parent or legal guardian. It is paid in full and is never reduced pro rata — but it is in full and final satisfaction of all of that child's claims, both displacement and property loss. A child does not share the displacement pool and cannot submit a documented property-loss claim, so $2,500 is the entire recovery for a child. The aggregate child payments come out of the Property Loss Pool and are paid before the pro rata distribution, so they reduce what is left for adults and insurers. WHICH NUMBER IS A CAP ON WHAT. The $1,300,000 caps the displacement side only. The $2,500 caps a child's total recovery. The only figure that caps the settlement as a whole is the $8,450,000 gross fund, and that is before fees, expenses, administration, taxes and opt-out reversions. INSURANCE OFFSET. Property-insurance proceeds a resident already received for personal property are subtracted from that resident's recognized property-loss claim, capped at the gross recognized amount, so the same loss is compensated once. Money an insurer paid for additional living expenses or loss of use is not subtracted. WHERE THE RISK SITS. The displacement pool and the child payments are fixed dollar amounts, so the settlement plan states that the balance of the Property Loss Pool absorbs all of the variability in litigation expenses, administration costs, taxes and opt-out reversions. Higher costs shrink the property-loss side, not the displacement payment. TIMING. Payments are made only after the court grants final approval at or after the January 5, 2027 hearing, any appeals are resolved and claims are processed. No payment date has been announced.

Last reviewed: September 27, 2026 | Information verified from court records and official settlement documents.

Frequently Asked Questions