Housing Council Settles Its Biggest Discrimination Suit

The Fair Housing Council of Orange County has settled the largest housing discrimination lawsuit in its 30-year history for $775,000, officials said Thursday.

Clark B. Biggers, owner of four apartment complexes in Anaheim, Fullerton and Brea, agreed Tuesday to pay the $775,000 to settle the 1993 lawsuit, which accused him of dozens of instances of refusing to rent apartments to families with children and to members of racial minorities.

Of that total, $645,000 will go to attorney Barry Litt, who represented the Fair Housing Council, officials involved in the case said.

Another $59,000 will reimburse the Fair Housing Council for its work on the case, and $71,000 will be split among the dozens of alleged victims of the discriminatory practices.

Biggers did not admit to any wrongdoing in the settlement.

Despite the relatively small awards to the victims, a Fair Housing Council official said an important message was sent to landlords: Discrimination is not only illegal, it can also be very expensive.

“I think it sends the message that discriminatory housing practices will not be condoned in this locality,” said David Quezada, executive director of the Fair Housing Council, a nonprofit agency that investigates and prosecutes claims of housing discrimination.

Biggers and his attorneys did not return repeated telephone calls to their homes and offices Thursday.

Three of the plaintiffs in the case, families who alleged they were charged higher rents than their neighbors without children, will receive cash settlements of $10,000 to $17,500 each, Litt said. Three other plaintiffs who alleged that they were denied apartments because they are racial minorities will receive cash awards of about $2,000 apiece.

Smaller sums will be paid to about 25 other families who were either denied apartments or charged higher rents because they had children.

None of the plaintiffs could be reached for comment Thursday.

Litt said monetary awards are typically low to victims in such cases. “In a case like this, you don’t have large damages,” he said. He said the real importance of the case is that it will deter landlords who might otherwise engage in discriminatory practices.

“Hopefully, determinations like this send a message to other people who are thinking about discriminating that it can cost them . . . that they should think twice,” he said.

Quezada said Litt’s fee was justified by the amount of time he spent collecting evidence. “He spent thousands of hours on the case. Literally over 5,000 hours,” Quezada said. “What I am disturbed about is that the defense did not settle this promptly. Instead, this matter went on for years.”

Elizabeth Martin, director of litigation for the Fair Housing Council, added that the award to the attorney was typical of those made in fair housing lawsuits.

“One of the things about fair housing litigation is it is very time-intensive,” she said. “Nobody would take these cases if attorneys’ fees were not allowed by statute.”

In addition to the damages, Biggers agreed to charge families with children the same rents as tenants without children. Biggers will also have to pay to train apartment managers to prevent future discrimination, Quezada and Litt said.