Attorney General Martha Coakley Files Second Lawsuit Against Park Owner for Housing Discrimination

FROM THE OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

July 17, 2008

Contact:
Amie Breton
(617) 727-2543


ORANGE – Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Office has filed a housing discrimination and consumer protection complaint against Leisure Woods Estates, Inc., (Leisure Woods) the owner of Leisure Woods Mobile Home Park in Orange, Massachusetts. The complaint, filed late yesterday in Franklin Superior Court, alleges that Leisure Woods violated state anti-discrimination laws by refusing to allow a disabled homeowner to have her daughter reside with her as a caretaker on the grounds that the daughter was under the age of 55. The complaint also alleges that Leisure Woods committed unfair and deceptive acts and practices in violation of state consumer protection laws by attempting to impose an unauthorized over-55 age requirement for park occupants.

The homeowner, who has lived at the park since 2003, has been diagnosed with multiple disabilities and requires the presence of a live-in caretaker to assist her with major life activities. According to the complaint, Leisure Woods refused to let the homeowner’s 49-year-old daughter move in with her, claiming that the park rules had changed to limit occupancy to residents over age 55. The complaint alleges that Leisure Woods attempted to impose the age requirement even after its request to become an age-restricted park had been denied by the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development in September 2007 and it had been explicitly told by the agency not to discriminate against residents and applicants on the basis of age. The complaint asserts that Leisure Woods should have known that it was not a lawfully converted age 55 and over housing community and that its efforts to prohibit the daughter from residing in her mother’s home based upon her age constituted discrimination.

“We are concerned that this is the second alleged instance of discriminatory conduct by this park owner in the past few months,” said Attorney General Coakley. “The right of a disabled homeowner to have reasonable accommodations for the use and enjoyment of her home is of primary importance. The process that owners must follow when seeking to change park occupancy rules is intended to ensure that the rights of occupants and future tenants are protected. Our office remains committed to ensuring protections for persons with disabilities and to addressing discriminatory housing practices.”

The lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction requiring Leisure Woods to approve the occupancy of the daughter and her husband in the homeowner’s unit, an order enjoining the defendant from imposing any age restrictions on the park, anti-discrimination training for Leisure Woods’ employees, future compliance with anti-discrimination laws, damages to the disabled homeowner, and monetary penalties for the violation of the consumer protection laws.

A separate and unrelated discrimination lawsuit against Leisure Woods was filed by the Attorney General’s Office in April 2008, in Franklin Superior Court, and is currently pending. That complaint alleges that the owner of the manufactured housing community failed to permit a disabled homeowner to install a handicap ramp to enable the homeowner to enter his property.

This matter is being handled by Assistant Attorney General Lee Hettinger of Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Central Massachusetts’ Office.