StarTribune: Minnetonka condo residents win settlement in federal lawsuit
Arbitrary rules that restrict the rights of children to enjoy the places where they live are not acceptable.
By KELLY SMITH
March 20, 2015
Suit accused Minnetonka condo association of discriminating against families with children.Minnetonka residents of a condo complex have won a settlement agreement in a federal lawsuit contending that a ban on playing in the grass illegally discriminated against families with children.The settlement agreement, announced Friday by U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger, means that the Greenbrier Village Homeowners’ Association Inc. and Gassen Company Inc. must establish a new nondiscrimination policy and pay a $10,000 penalty to the federal government and $100,000 to six families.
“Housing discrimination has no place in Minnesota,” Luger said in a statement. “This case reaffirms the long-held principle of our civil rights laws that families come in all shapes and sizes. Arbitrary rules that restrict the rights of children to enjoy the places where they live are not acceptable.”
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis in November 2013 by U.S. Department of Justice officials, claimed that the Minnetonka homeowners’ association, management company and property manager of the 462-unit complex violated the federal Fair Housing Act.
In a 2013 Star Tribune article, attorneys for the company and homeowners’ association denied alleged discrimination. Read article: