Nine months before the City of St. Louis took legal action against Dara Daugherty and her associates’ wide-ranging “illegal rooming house” scheme, attorney Ryan Gavin took Daugherty to court with similar allegations — and won a $1.8 million judgment against her.  Gavin filed the lawsuit against Daugherty and one of her LLCs in April of 2023 on behalf of James Cole, who had rented a room from Daugherty in the Benton Park West neighborhood.