NBA Owner "Clipped" For $2.7M+ In Settlement Of Race/Etnicity-Based Fair Housing Allegations; Discriminated Tenants To Share In $2.625M Pot

From the U.S. Department of Justice:

• The Justice Department announced [last month] the largest monetary payment ever obtained by the department in the settlement of a case alleging housing discrimination in the rental of apartments. Los Angeles apartment owner Donald T. Sterling(1) has agreed to pay $2.725 million to settle allegations that he discriminated against African-Americans, Hispanics and families with children at apartment buildings he controls in Los Angeles.(2) [...] Among other things, the suit alleged that the defendants discriminated against non-Korean tenants and prospective tenants at buildings the defendants owned in the Koreatown area of Los Angeles.(3)

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• The settlement would also resolve two related lawsuits filed by former tenants at one of the properties. The two families, an African-American family and an interracial married couple with bi-racial children, alleged that the defendants demolished the private yards that had been part of their apartment and took other actions against them because of their race.

• The settlement, which is memorialized in a proposed consent order that the parties have submitted to the court for approval, would require the defendants to pay a $100,000 civil penalty to the United States. Under the settlement, the defendants would also pay $2.625 million into a fund that would be used to pay monetary damages to persons who were harmed by the defendants’ discriminatory practices, including the tenants in the two related lawsuits discussed above. Any money left over would go to further fair housing education or enforcement in Los Angeles.

For the USDOJ press release, see Justice Department Obtains Record $2.725 Million Settlement of Housing Discrimination Lawsuit.

(1) Donald T. Sterling is the current owner of the National Basketball Association's Los Angeles Clippers. For more on Sterling, see:

• The Huffington Post: Put Donald T. Sterling's NAACP Award on Hold;
• LA Weekly: Clippers Owner Allegedly Didn't Like To Rent To Blacks, Latinos; Pays Record Settlement,
• The Associated Press: Clippers owner told to pay $5 million in housing suit lawyer fees (A judge ordered Los Angeles Clippers owner and real estate mogul Donald T. Sterling to pay nearly $5 million in fees to plaintiffs' attorneys in a lawsuit accusing him of discriminating against black and Latino tenants).

(2) The defendants, who manage their apartments under the name Beverly Hills Properties, own and manage approximately 119 apartment buildings comprising over 5,000 apartments in Los Angeles County, according to the DOJ press release.

(3) According to the DOJ press release, the United States presented evidence that:

• the defendants’ employees prepared internal reports that identified the race of tenants at properties the defendants purchased in Koreatown, and
• the defendants made statements to employees at Koreatown buildings indicating that African-Americans and Hispanics were not desirable tenants.

The United States also presented expert analysis in court filings showing that the defendants rented to far fewer Hispanics and African-Americans in Koreatown which than would be expected based on income and other demographic characteristics, according to the press release.