Interracial Couple Sues Irvine Co., Claims Bias : Court: Their lawsuit contends they were denied an apartment in Newport Beach because the man is black. The company says the allegations are baseless.

An interracial couple sued the Irvine Co. in U.S. District Court here Friday, saying they were denied an apartment in Newport Beach because the man is black.

The company, which owns one-sixth of the land in Orange County and is one of the area’s largest apartment owners, immediately disputed the allegations.

Walter James and Jill DeGarmo of Los Angeles say the Irvine Co.’s apartment manager, Western National Properties Inc., told them over the telephone early last year that there were vacancies at the Mariner Square Apartments.

But when the couple showed up the next day, they say, an apartment manager told them there was nothing available in the complex.

The couple alleges that less than an hour later, DeGarmo, who is white, called the complex again from a pay phone using a disguised voice and was told there were vacancies.

About a week later the Fair Housing Council of Orange County--a private, nonprofit group that is also suing--says it sent a black man and a white man to the complex within half an hour of each other. The group alleges that the white man was shown an apartment first; the black man was told there were no vacancies.

The housing council filed suit to help “dispel Orange County’s image as an exclusionary area,” said David Quezada, the group’s executive director.

Both the Irvine Co. and Western National said Friday that the allegations are baseless.

“No discrimination has taken place at Mariner Square Apartments, and we are prepared to place before any court compelling facts to prove it,” the companies said in a three-page statement.

The companies will not say exactly which allegations they dispute. Those contentions should be aired only in court, a spokesman said.

“Unfortunately, we are attractive targets for specious lawsuits,” the companies said, adding that the lawsuit was “absolutely without merit,” “noxious” and a “misguided legal excursion.”

The couple alleges violations of the federal Fair Housing Act and California anti-discrimination laws. They seek restitution for “humiliation, mental anguish and . . . distress.” They also want an unspecified amount in punitive damages.

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc., which filed the suit on behalf of the couple, says it will probably seek a six-figure award. That is similar to two previous cases the fund says it settled with Los Angeles landlords last year for a total of more than $750,000.

“We are sending a signal to property owners and managers that this discriminatory conduct must come to an end,” said Patrick O. Patterson, western regional counsel for the defense fund.

The Los Angeles office of the New York law firm of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson has also taken on the case at no charge to the couple, although the law firm might be able to recover its fees if the case is won.

The Irvine Co. owns more than 11,000 units in 43 complexes around Orange County. Western National manages 5,800 of those apartments, the largest of the four managers hired by the Irvine Co.

Despite the size of both companies’ apartment operations, “not a single successful housing discrimination complaint ever has been brought against either company,” they said in the statement.

The Irvine Co. said it insisted on including anti-discrimination pledges in its housing operations as far back as the early 1960s, “when they were not required by law.”