Absence of Blacks in Ads Costs Developer
|
|
A Federal jury this week directed the owner of a suburban Virginia housing development to pay $850,000 to a group of plaintiffs for having used only white people as models in the development’s advertising. Legal experts said the verdict, returned Thursday, might be the largest award ever made by a jury in a housing discrimination case. Although the law at issue, the Federal Fair Housing Act, was enacted in 1968, it was not until two years ago that Congress removed the legislation’s $1,000 ceiling on jury awards. The defendant was Colonial Village, owner of a 640-unit condominium development in Arlington, Va. The plaintiffs argued that Colonial Village’s use of exclusively white models over a five-year period, from 1981 to 1986, had sent a message that blacks were not welcome there. The suit was brought by two fair-housing groups — the Fair Housing Council of Greater Washington and the Metropolitan Washington Planning and Housing Association — and was joined by Girardeau A. Spann, a black professor of law at Georgetown University. The plaintiffs contended that they were entitled to damages because Colonial Village’s advertising had frustrated their ability to carry out their mission: to assure fair housing. More : query.nytimes.com |