Accusation of Bias Against Children Leads to Big Award in Housing Suit
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In what is believed to be the largest verdict in a housing bias case, a Federal jury here has returned a $2.4 million judgment against a company found to have discriminated against families with children by excluding them from its apartments. Lawyers for the plaintiffs predict that the size of the verdict, one of the first under a Federal housing law enacted four years ago, will prompt lawsuits nationwide against property owners and managers believed to be discriminating against families with children. The main plaintiff here, Carrie J. Timus, a 36-year-old secretary at the Labor Department, has a 7-year-old son and a 3-year-old daughter. She said the defendant, William J. Davis Inc., a large property management company in Washington, told her in November 1990 that it would not rent to her because she had children. Ms. Timus had been trying to rent a one-bedroom apartment in a four-story red-brick building in a lower-middle-class section of Mount Rainier, Md., outside Washington. The monthly rent was $395. In an interview today Ms. Timus quoted the resident manager as telling her: “This is an all-adult building. No children allowed.” An eight-member jury returned the verdict Tuesday to William B. Bryant, a senior judge of the Federal District Court. Bias Banned in 1988 The basis of the verdict was a Federal law, adopted in 1988, that prohibits housing discrimination on the basis of “familial status,” a term defined by the law as having children under 18 years old. The law provides an exemption that permits housing for the elderly, “intended for and solely occupied by persons 62 years of age or older.” The 1988 law was an amendment to the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which as originally passed prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion and national origin. The act was first amended in 1974, to forbid discrimination on the basis of sex. Congress passed the 1988 law after testimony suggesting that families with children were often victims of housing discrimination. Property owners and managers said children were noisy, unruly and likely to cause damage. In many parts of the country, demand for apartments far exceeds the supply, and many property owners found that they could fill their apartments even while excluding or limiting families with children. Plaintiff Felt Degraded Ms. Timus said today that she felt degraded when she was told, in effect, “You can live here, but your children can’t.” “When you’re welcome, your children should be,” Ms. Timus said. “They’re part of you. We are one. We’re a family. We belong together.” The William J. Davis company and its lawyers refused to comment on the verdict today. As part of their defense at the trial, company executives said they were aware of the 1988 law and that there were some children in apartments at the Mount Rainier building, as well as in other buildings managed by the company. More : query.nytimes.com |