The downstairs neighbors of famed local philanthropist Bernard Osher and his wife, former Honorary Consul General of Sweden Barbro Sachs-Osher, have filed a suit alleging that, during a swanky party at the Oshers’ high-rise apartment, someone clogged the kitchen sink, flooding the floors below them with black water and causing some $12,000 in damage.
The neighbors, Andrew and Susan Engler, filed the complaint in San Francisco Superior Court Tuesday, almost two years after the alleged soiree.
Back then, the Englers lived three floors down from the Oshers at the swanky Montgomery Washington Tower, according to the complaint. A two-bedroom inside the 26-unit high-rise — declared by one real estate agent to be the "most exclusive commercial/residential building in the Financial District" — went for $2.9 million earlier this year.
During the party, held on September 11, 2022, Susan saw a “large volume” of dirty water leaking from the ceiling in their condo hallway. When she went up to the Oshers’ place to see what was going on, according to the suit, she found a huge party underway, with their building HOA president, Anders Nancke-Krogh, in attendance. (Nancke-Krogh and the homeowner’s association, the Montgomery Washington Tower Association, are also named defendants in the suit.)
In the kitchen, according to the suit, caterers were busy dumping “unsuitable amounts and types of waste” in the sink while running the dishwasher. Nancke-Krogh went to the Engler’s unit to see the leak himself, but left shortly after. The clean-up from the Oshers’ dinner party led to such a severe leak of “black/dirty water” that the ceilings and walls in their hallway needed to be demolished and rebuilt, according to a contractor hired by the building. The damage has yet to be repaired, according to the suit, which the couple blame on Nancke-Krogh.
“The Oshers created and maintained a nuisance for the other residents of the Montgomery-Washington Tower and have not taken any reasonable steps to permanently abate the nuisance or to mitigate the damage caused to Plaintiffs by the nuisance,” according to the complaint.
The building has a significant problem with leaks in general, if the suit is to be believed. The day of the party, according to the complaint, a contractor hired by the building association was already looking into leaks into other apartments inside the building — including in Nancke-Krogh’s own residence. There were also other separate leaks inside the Englers’ unit, including a solarium window that regularly leaked whenever it rained, the complaint alleges.
The Englers are seeking damages to cover both repairs and the cost of moving and storing their valuables, including high-value paintings. A third-party contractor estimated that the repair would cost $12,000, according to the suit.
The Montgomery Washington Tower got a new management company two months ago, according to a building representative who declined to comment on the suit. Attorneys for the Englers and a representative for the Bernard Osher Foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
