FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Media@aclu.org
On August 31, 2005, the ACLU Women's Rights Project settled a case on behalf of a victim of domestic violence whose landlord locked her out of her home without notice at the instruction of her abusive husband. The apartment complex agreed to pay monetary damages and attorney fees, to adopt various forward-looking policy changes to protect the housing rights of victims of domestic violence, and to require training for their staff on domestic violence and fair housing law.
The ACLU Women's Rights Project, in cooperation with the ACLU of Michigan and the Michigan Poverty Law Project, initiated negotiations with the apartment complex on behalf of a domestic violence victim referred to as ""Laura K."" in public statements.
In October 2003, Laura K. and her husband moved to a privately owned apartment complex in Wayne County, Michigan, but the apartment management would not allow her to sign the lease because she was not employed. Thus, only her husband signed the lease as a tenant; she was listed as an ""occupant.""
A few months later, in March 2004, shortly after she gave birth to a baby boy, her husband assaulted her in her home. Laura K. sought police assistance, and her husband was arrested. As a condition of his bail, the judge in the case issued a ""no contact"" order, barring her husband from the family home for at least two weeks, and Laura K. informed the management of the apartment complex about the arrest and the court order. Nevertheless, days later, while Laura K. and her baby were at the post office, the apartment complex changed the locks on her apartment at her husband's request, without any notice to her. She and her baby were left homeless.
According to Laura K., the apartment complex management told her that she had no legal rights to the apartment because she had not signed the lease, and that if she wanted access to the apartment, she should talk to her husband. She was told that the court order barring her husband from the home was not the apartment complex's concern. She was also told that if she tried to gain access to the apartment she would be arrested. As a result of these actions, Laura K., a recent immigrant to the United States, lost most of her belongings and was forced to seek shelter with friends of her husband's family.
The ACLU Women's Rights Project argued that the apartment complex's actions in not permitting Laura K. to sign the lease and in evicting her without notice constituted housing discrimination on the basis of sex, in violation of the Fair Housing Act and state law. Based on previous cases brought by the Women's Rights Project on behalf of battered women, the ACLU argued that the practices of not allowing stay-at-home wives to sign leases as co-tenants, refusing to adhere to court orders barring batters from the home, and evicting victims of domestic violence all harm women disproportionately, in violation of the law.
As a result of this intervention, the apartment complex, while consistently denying any wrongdoing, agreed to a monetary settlement, which compensated Laura K. for her lost belongings and emotional distress, and a payment of attorney fees to the Women's Rights Project. It also agreed to various policy changes explicitly addressing the housing rights of victims of domestic violence and the tenancy rights of all adults living on the property. Finally, its staff will be required to undergo training of fair housing law and domestic violence. In exchange, the ACLU and Laura K. agreed to keep the identity of the parties and the settlement amount confidential.
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