State AGs Target Housing Discrimination In Mobile Home, RV Parks

In two unrelated stories, attorneys general in Massachusetts and Florida have recently issued announcements in connection with their efforts to prosecute housing discrimination in civil lawsuits.

Massachusetts:

• Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Office has filed a housing discrimination and consumer protection complaint against Leisure Woods Estates, Inc., (Leisure Woods) the owner of Leisure Woods Mobile Home Park in Orange, Massachusetts. The complaint [...] alleges that Leisure Woods violated state anti-discrimination laws by refusing to allow a disabled homeowner to have her [49-year old] daughter reside with her as a caretaker on the grounds that the daughter was under the age of 55. [...] The complaint alleges that Leisure Woods attempted to impose the age requirement even after its request to become an age-restricted park had been denied by the [state ...]. A separate and unrelated [Massachusetts AG] discrimination lawsuit against Leisure Woods [...] is currently pending. That complaint alleges that the owner of the manufactured housing community failed to permit a disabled homeowner to install a handicap ramp to enable the homeowner to enter his property.

For more, see AG Coakley Files Second Lawsuit Against Park Owner for Housing Discrimination.

Florida:

• Attorney General Bill McCollum [...] announced that his Office of Civil Rights has reached an agreement with a Sarasota County RV park, resolving allegations of potential civil rights violations against a former resident of the park. [...] Numerous events, some involving her young grandchildren, led [former resident Francis] Gregory to file the complaint alleging racial and familial status discrimination in violation of the [Florida] Fair Housing Act. [...] At the time of the finding of reasonable cause, the park had been sold to Myakka River RV Resorts. The new owners met with the Attorney General’s Office of Civil Rights and agreed to revise the rules which were the subject of the complaint. Under the agreement reached with the Attorney General’s Office, the company also agreed to pay $7,500 in damages to Gregory and to reimburse the state $2,500 for attorneys’ fees and costs.

For more, see:

• Sarasota County RV Park Resolves Civil Rights Investigation with Former Park Resident,
• Copy of legal settlement between the Florida AG and RV park owner.