South Florida Landlord To Cough Up $200K+ In Settlement With Feds Over Civil Charges Of Race Discrimination In Apartment Rentals

From the U.S. Department of Justice:

• The Justice Department [Thursday] announced an agreement with the owner of College Square Apartments, in Davie, Fla., to settle allegations of discrimination against African Americans. Under the consent decree, approved [Thursday] in U.S. District Court in Miami, the defendants must pay a total of up to $140,000 to victims of discrimination(1) and a civil penalty of $74,000 to the government.

• The lawsuit, filed in August 2008 and later amended, alleged that the property manager at the time, Don Murroni, acting under the direction of Craig Forman, the president and sole shareholder of C.F. Enterprises, falsely told African Americans that no apartments were available and discouraged African Americans from applying. Murroni also allegedly offered to waive the application fee or other costs for white applicants, and told white testers that a selling point of College Square Apartments was the absence of black tenants. The allegations were based on evidence obtained through the Department’s fair housing testing unit, where individuals present as potential renters to gather information about possible discriminatory practices. [Thursday's] settlement resolves the government’s claims against C.F. Enterprises and Craig Forman.(1)

For the entire Justice Department press release, see Justice Department Settles Race Discrimination Allegations Against Davie, Florida, Apartment Complex.

(1) Individuals who believe that they may have been victims of housing discrimination at College Square Apartments should call the U.S. Justice Department at 1-800-896-7743 extension 992.