Real Estate & Property Law
Landlord to Pay Record $2.72M in Apartment Rental Discrimination Case
Posted Nov 3, 2009, 03:43 pm CST
By Martha Neil
Real estate mogul Donald Sterling, who owns the Los Angeles Clippers, has agreed to pay $2.725 million to settle litigation alleging that he violated fair housing law by discriminating against dozens of African-Americans, Hispanics and families with children at dozens of Los Angeles-area apartments that he also owns.
The settlement is the largest ever obtained by the U.S. Department of Justice in an apartment-rental case, reports the L.A. Now blog of the Los Angeles Times.
U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer must still approve the settlement before it is final. Under the agreed terms, Sterling will be monitored for several years to determine whether he is in compliance with fair housing law.
In court documents, Sterling and his wife describe the settlement as a "a compromise of disputed claims," the newspaper notes, and say they are not admitting liability. The article does not include any direct comment from the couple.
Officials say the settlement includes $2.625 million payment to a fund for people who were harmed by their discriminatory practices and a $100,000 penalty that will go to the government.
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