Mass. Family With Young Children Pockets $10K Settlement From Real Estate Agents Accused Of Violating State Anti-Discrimination, Lead-Based Paint Laws

From the Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General:

• Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Office obtained a consent judgment against Geoffrey Wells, doing business as (d/b/a) Harvard Real Estate of Brookline, and one of his employees, David Ravalli, accused of violating state antidiscrimination and lead paint laws by refusing to show a property to a family because they had young children. The judgment, [...] requires the brokers to pay the family $10,000 and prohibits them from discriminating against any person who seeks or applies for housing because they have children or otherwise discriminating against any person in violation of state and federal fair housing laws.

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• The consent judgment resolves a complaint filed in October 2007 in Norfolk Superior Court, alleging that Geoffrey Wells, d/b/a Harvard Real Estate of Brookline, through its agent David Ravalli, refused to show an advertised unit to a mother of two young children and tried to steer her to other properties. The complaint alleges that the discriminatory treatment was confirmed by two testers from the Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston.(1)

For the entire press release, see AG Reaches $10,000 Settlement with Brookline Real Estate Brokers for Discrimination.

(1) Information for Massachusetts residents who believe they've been discriminated against in any way in violation of federal and state anti-discrimination laws in connection with housing sales or rentals or in housing lending and insurance is made available online by the Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston in the following languages:

• Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Haitian Creyole, Khmer, Portuguese, Russian, Somali, Vietnamese, and last, but certainly not least, English.