Justice Department Obtains $131,500 in Discrimination Settlement With
Chattanooga, Tennessee, Apartment Complex
WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The United States has reached a
settlement resolving a housing discrimination lawsuit in Tennessee concerning
discrimination against families with children, the Justice Department
announced. Under the consent decree, filed today in federal court in
Chattanooga, Tenn., defendants Fountainbleau Apartments L.P., Clark W. Taylor
Inc., Clark W. Taylor, Jane McElroy, Elizabeth Foster and CWT Management Inc.
will pay $131,500 in monetary relief to 15 identified victims and the United
States.
The Department's complaint alleged that the owners, property managers, and
management company violated the Fair Housing Act by refusing to rent
apartments to persons with children, discouraging persons with children from
renting dwellings owned and managed by the defendants, steering persons with
children to another apartment complex and making statements that discriminated
on the basis of familial status.
"The Fair Housing Act ensures that families searching for a home are protected
from discrimination," said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the
Civil Rights Division. "The Justice Department will continue to vigorously
protect the civil rights of families in Tennessee and across the country."
Under the consent decree, which must be approved by the federal court in
Chattanooga, the defendants must pay $116,500 to 15 identified victims of
discrimination and an additional $15,000 to the government as a civil penalty.
The settlement also calls for numerous corrective measures, including
training, a nondiscrimination policy, record keeping and monitoring.
The Department conducted its investigation using fair-housing testers --
individuals who pose as renters for purposes of gathering information about
possible discriminatory practices in the rental of apartments.
Fighting illegal housing discrimination is a top priority of the Justice
Department. The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing
on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin
and disability.
More information about the Civil Rights Division and the laws it enforces is
available at http://www.justice.gov/crt/. Persons who believe they have
experienced or witnessed unlawful housing discrimination may call the Housing
Discrimination Tip Line at 1-800-896-7743, e-mail the Justice Department at
fairhousing@usdoj.gov, or contact HUD at 1-800-669-9777. More information
about the Fair Housing Act can also be found at
http://www.justice.gov/crt/housing/ or http://www.hud.gov/fairhousing.
SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice
U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs, +1-202-514-2007, TDD,
+1-202-514-1888
