Discrimination Claim from Tenant

[lufeitan]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

I own an apartment complex and I recently had tenant say that he wants to file a discrimination lawsuit against us. The reason being that my property manager told him to move his motorcycle, which he has parked in front of a staircase, to the designated parking space. The motorcycle was posing a fire hazard and we believed that this was reasonable. However, the tenant claims that we are discriminating against him because there is another tenant, whom we inherited from the previous owner, who parks his motorcycles outside of his unit, but posing no fire hazard threat. Since the inherited tenant already had an agreement with the previous owner regarding his motorcycles, we believed that his right has been grandfathered in. With any new tenants, we do not want their motorcycles on the property, especially if it proofs to be a fire hazard.

Am I correct in thinking that the inherited tenant's agreement with the previous owner has been grandfathered in? Also, does the tenant claiming a discrimination lawsuit against us have any ground in his claim? How worried should be be if this issue goes to court and should we settle?

We have liability insurance with Travelers Insurance, but we are not sure if the policy covers discrimination lawsuits. Does the typical apartment owner insurance policy with Travelers cover discrimination lawsuits?

 

[Mass_Shyster]

Is the complainer a member of a protected class? Is the person permitted to park outside his unit a member of the same class?

What is the basis of his claim of discrimination.

You are permitted to discriminate against persons who create fire hazards.

 

[DeenaCA]

Here is some information on unlawful housing discrimination in CA: http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/landlordbook/discrimination.shtml.

Under California law, it is unlawful for a landlord, managing agent, real estate broker, or salesperson to discriminate against a person or harass a person because of the person's race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or medical conditions related to them, as well as gender and perception of gender), sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, ancestry, familial status, source of income, or disability.

The tenant would have to prove that he was asked to move the motorcycle BECAUSE OF his race, religion, etc. Otherwise it is legal to require that he park in a designated space instead of in front of the stairs.

 

[lufeitan]

Is the complainer a member of a protected class? Is the person permitted to park outside his unit a member of the same class?

What is the basis of his claim of discrimination.

You are permitted to discriminate against persons who create fire hazards.

The complainer is Hispanic while the person permitted to park outside his unit is African-American. As I wrote in my post, the African-American tenant is allowed to park outside his unit because, first, it is not a fire hazard as the location is right outside his own door and not obstructing any neighbor's fire escape routes, and second, he is an inherited tenant from the previous owner and his agreement is grandfathered in (I'm not sure whether the grandfather clause is usable in this instance, can you clarify for me?).

The complainer claims that my property manager was rude to his wife while talking to her on the phone regarding moving the motorcycle. He said that my property manager yelled at her over the phone, telling her to move the bike now, now, now! He also said that my property manager actually made their 14 year-old daughter to move the bike. After getting my property manager's side of the story, the complainer seemed to have blown details way out of proportion. However, I'm not sure whether his story will told up in court. What do you think?

 

[lufeitan]

Second part of my story

Thanks to everyone to gave me advice regarding my problem; I greatly appreciate it.

There is a second part to my story. Besides the complainer's lawsuit threat, he also did not pay rent for May. He told my property manager that, since the manager treated him so badly, he will only speak to the owner from now on. My family gave in to his demand and we met up with him. Long story short, we the owners are now dealing directly with him and are planning on attempting to retrieve the rent one last time before starting eviction proceedings. Was this a bad idea on our part (giving in to tenant demands) and, if so, how can we alleviate this problem?

Thanks in advance for sharing your time and wisdom.

Phillip
5/22/12
11:17 AM

 

[Mass_Shyster]

we the owners are now dealing directly with him and are planning on attempting to retrieve the rent one last time before starting eviction proceedings.

I would start eviction proceedings immediately. You can always stop the proceedings if he pays, but it really seems like he's just making excuses.