Court Nixes Tenant's $3M Racial Discrimination Case Against Landlord

July 21, 2021

What Happened: For the first six months of the lease, an African-American owner of a day spa had a “great” and “courteous” relationship with her landlord. But then came the middle-of-the-night call the landlord received from the Sheriff’s Office notifying him of the tenant’s arrest near the leased unit. The landlord was infuriated and ordered the tenant “to get your sh*# out of my property or I’ll chase you to the ends of the earth!” Eight days later, he brought an eviction suit.

What Happened: For the first six months of the lease, an African-American owner of a day spa had a “great” and “courteous” relationship with her landlord. But then came the middle-of-the-night call the landlord received from the Sheriff’s Office notifying him of the tenant’s arrest near the leased unit. The landlord was infuriated and ordered the tenant “to get your sh*# out of my property or I’ll chase you to the ends of the earth!” Eight days later, he brought an eviction suit. The tenant accused the landlord of racial discrimination and sued for $3 million in damages.

Ruling: The Florida federal district court ruled that the tenant didn’t have a valid legal claim and tossed the case without a trial.

Reasoning: The tenant had no evidence of racial discrimination other than the fact that the landlord was white and she was the only Black tenant in the building. The case would be far stronger if the tenant could have shown, for example, that the landlord didn’t try to evict white tenants after they’d been arrested. In fact, the tenant’s own allegations suggested that the landlord’s actions to evict were motivated by the tenant’s arrest near the unit rather than her race.  

  • Gonta v. Nations, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 129308, 2021 WL 2905424   

 

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