Source: Office of United States Attorneys
PORTLAND, Maine: The owner, former property manager, and contractor of an apartment building in Lewiston have agreed to collectively pay $39,500 to resolve a lawsuit alleging that the former property manager and his contractor sexually harassed a female tenant in violation of the Fair Housing Act.
The Justice Department’s lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine in June 2024, alleges that beginning in 2019 and continuing through 2020, Defendants subjected a female tenant to repeated and unwanted sexual comments and touching without her consent. The case is captioned United States v. Methuselah Tree, LLC., Robert Ross, RLR Enterprises, Brian Bennett, and Henry Irvin Investments, LLC, Case No. 2:24-cv-00204-JAW. The former tenant was represented by Pine Tree Legal Assistance. The lawsuit arose from a complaint that the tenant filed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). After HUD investigated the complaint, it issued a charge of discrimination, and the matter was referred to the Justice Department.
Under the consent decree and settlement agreements, the former property owner will pay $35,000 to the former tenant. The former property manager and his contractor will pay $1,500 and $3,000, respectively, while also completing Fair Housing Act training and refraining from engaging in property management or residential property maintenance for one year. The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only and the settling defendants did not admit liability in the consent decree or settlement agreements.
If you are a victim of sexual harassment by a landlord or property manager or have suffered other forms of housing discrimination, call the Justice Department’s Housing Discrimination Tip Line at 1-800-896-7743 or submit a report online. More information about the Civil Rights Division and the laws it enforces is available at www.justice.gov/crt.
This settlement is part of the Justice Department’s Sexual Harassment in Housing Initiative, led by the Civil Rights Division, in coordination with U.S. Attorneys’ Offices across the country. The initiative, which the Department launched in October 2017, seeks to address and raise awareness about sexual harassment by landlords, property managers, maintenance workers, loan officers and other people who have control over housing. Since launching the initiative, the Department has filed 49 lawsuits alleging sexual harassment in housing and recovered over $16 million for victims of such harassment.
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