Apartment Owners Face Federal Bias Suit : Glendale: Civil lawsuit also names manager in alleged discrimination against African Americans and families with children.

The owners and manager of a Glendale apartment building could face $50,000 in civil penalties in a lawsuit filed this week by federal authorities accusing them of discriminating against African Americans and families with children in their rental policies.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday by the Department of Justice in U. S. District Court in Los Angeles, accuses Herman and Eva Schondorf, owners of the Kenwood Court Apartments at 340 N. Kenwood Ave., and Joe Davila, the complex manager, of violating the Federal Housing Act. It stems from a three-year investigation in which African American and white surveyors, posing as prospective renters with identical qualifications, attempted to rent apartments in various buildings across the San Fernando Valley, officials said.

But Davila, 57, called the lawsuit “a mistake.”

“I happen to be a Puerto Rican and a minority myself,” Davila said. “They’re accusing me of discriminating against different ethnic groups, but we’ve got blacks, Koreans, Armenians, Hispanics. The fact is that this is the most diverse type of building there is.”

In the three-story, 20-unit building, Davila said only three units are now rented to whites. He also said there are several families in the building with children.

Justice Department officials contacted in Washington, D. C., on Friday would not disclose details of the allegations against the Schondorfs and Davila, but said the lawsuit was based on a number of tests conducted at the apartment complex and documented by the surveyors, or “testers.”

“We’re alleging a pattern of discrimination here,” said Brian Heffernan, deputy chief of the department’s housing section. “The basic allegation is that black testers were treated less fairly than their white counterparts.”

Heffernan said the discrimination could consist of such things as offering rent specials or other incentives only to white tenants or requiring a higher security deposit from African American tenants.

The Schondorfs could not be reached for comment.

In addition to financial penalties, the owners and manager could also face a court order barring them from engaging in discriminatory renting practices in the future. They could also be required to pay damages to anyone who was unfairly denied an apartment at the complex, but federal officials would not say whether anyone has filed a complaint in the case.