Landlord, Justice Dept. Settle Discrimination Complaints; Allegations Include Tenant Lease Terminations Based On National Origin

From The U.S. Department of Justice:

• The Justice Department [Friday] announced that it has reached an agreement resolving a housing discrimination lawsuit against Gary Luke, Mary Ngo and Hoa Ngo concerning alleged discrimination on the basis of national origin. Under the consent decree filed [Friday] in federal court in Santa Ana, Calif., the defendants will pay $270,844 in monetary relief to the complainants and the United States. The Department’s amended complaint alleges that the defendants terminated the leases of Hispanic tenants to replace them with Vietnamese tenants, misrepresented the availability of units to non-Vietnamese prospective tenants, and made statements in connection with the rental of apartment units that expressed a preference, limitation, or discrimination based on national origin.

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• In addition to $174,000 in damages to be paid to the aggrieved tenants, the landlord agreed to pay the following amounts: (1) $59,344 for legal fees and expenses to the tenants' attorneys; (2) $30,000 in civil penalties to the United States; and (3) $7,500 in damages to an aggrieved individual.

For more, see Justice Department Settles Housing Discrimination Case with Orange County, California, Landlords.

For copy of lawsuit, see Complaint - U.S. v. Luke, et al.