March 11--A disability rights organization has filed federal fair housing lawsuits against owners of five apartment buildings in Chicago, alleging they failed to treat hearing-impaired consumers the same way they did other consumers.
Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago filed the suits in U.S. District Court against The James C. Cheng Living Trust, owner of 2641 N. Spaulding Ave.; Bill Prewitt and Best Rents, 3251 S. Wood St.; Gilbert Realty Co., 4103 N. Kedvale Ave.; BCH5820 LLC and Wilmette Real Estate Management, 5820 N. Kenmore Ave.; and North Star Trust Co. and M Domalex Holdings, 1636 W. Farwell Ave.
According to the complaints, in telephone tests with the buildings' leasing representatives, callers without hearing loss received answers to their questions and were invited to see apartments. Building representatives hung up on some deaf callers, failed to return voice mail messages or quoted different rents for them, according to the lawsuits.
Alan Didesch, general counsel for BCH5820, decliend to comment on the suit because he had not seen it. Efforts to reach representatives of the other four buildings were unsuccessful; they did not return messages or emails.
The tests were conducted in March 2013 as part of a group of about 20 buildings randomly tested for their adherence to federal laws and particularly those protecting the rights of deaf and partially deaf consumers, said Mary Rosenberg, a staff attorney at the agency.
"These five are the most compelling examples of discrimination, but that's not to say they are the only five," Rosenberg said. "These had more obvious violations."
Sometimes, she added, the agency reaches out directly to companies without filing lawsuits, "but in these cases, we did not reach out. They were such compelling facts, we thought it was more appropriate to file a complaint. We're trying to raise awareness."
Access Living seeks damages, court fees, attorney costs and orders that the companies participate in fair housing training and specifically market their properties to people who are deaf or partially deaf. The lawsuits were filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Chicago.
mepodmolik@tribpub.com
