Tenan’s mold issue

[Karen Chandler]

17 unit apartment building: manager negligent as we discovered that tenant had the following issues: Too many people, non-working or never used bathroom fan, never opened windows, never used heat, very unclean. Developed mold spurs. Called county (tenant resources) vs landlords. A landlord then discovered that it felt like a greenhouse. Carpet was actually wet. County (judge) ruled in their favor. All in all 100k spent ( 70 k to repair apartment, housing the tenants for several months in a hotel, ordered to pay them 10k, and now attorney is advising us to pay them 17k to not sue (extortion) I’m newly involved (owners are all siblings/cousins-12 in all) Sorry for the long post, but ??? 
property manager need to go. Lawyer ($700 per hour) needs to go. Please advise!