Fort Valley apartment settles disability discrimination suit with DOJ for $750K
A Fort Valley apartment complex agreed to settle a lawsuit from the Department of Justice that accused them of refusing to accommodate a mother and her son with disabilities, federal prosecutors said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia sued Indian Oaks Apartments and its former owner, Russell Management Services, on Oct. 23, 2024, for violating the Fair Housing Act.
The apartment complex was accused of failing to grant Sherthea Jackson’s request to be moved to an apartment on the first floor. One of her three children was diagnosed with infantile neuroaxonal dystrophy, a genetic disorder that causes permanent mobility impairment, according to the lawsuit.
The child needed a specially designed wheelchair that stayed in the apartment, a stroller attachment for Jackson’s car, and a chair that could be attached to the wheelchair or stroller, according to the lawsuit.
Jackson couldn’t safely carry the child up and down the stairs by herself, especially with the specially designed wheelchair, the lawsuit said.
Her older children had to help take care of the child, “leading to profound physical, psychological, and emotional losses for her son and lost academic and social opportunities for her older children,” the news release said.
Despite requesting a ground-floor apartment for 14 months and multiple available units, the apartment complex and its owner failed to accommodate Jackson’s family, the news release said.
As a result of the settlement, Indian Oaks Apartments and Russell Management Services must pay $750,000 to Jackson’s family. They would also need to “comply with certain policy and training provisions, and report to (the DOJ) on reasonable accommodation requests at any properties they own or operate,” the news release said.
“Refusing to move a terminally ill child and his family, when ground-floor units were available, was a clear violation of both law and decency,” said U.S. Attorney William R. “Will” Keyes. “Rental property owners and their employees must know and follow the Fair Housing Act, as denying reasonable accommodations is illegal, and our office will not hesitate to pursue those who break the law.”
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division also shared that “the defendants should have moved this family with a terminally ill child to a ground-floor unit without delay,” the news release said.
“Americans with disabilities have the right to equal access to housing in the United States, and this Justice Department will continue to ensure the protection of this right,” Dhillon said.
