Three women who rent townhouses in a development in Baltimore County have filed a federal lawsuit challenging a years-long pattern of discrimination and harassment against Black families who use housing vouchers to rent homes. Plaintiffs are represented by Lauren A. DiMartino and Andrew D. Freeman.
The suit alleges that the Queen Anne Village Association in Owings Mills, Maryland, together with the Association’s president and property managers, violated the Fair Housing Act, Maryland Fair Housing Act, and Maryland Homeowners Association Act by targeting properties occupied by Black voucher-holding families for heightened surveillance, disproportionate fines, and selective enforcement of community rules.
The tenants and their children were repeatedly followed, recorded, confronted, and reported to police while engaging in ordinary activities in and around their homes and community common areas. The community association fined the tenants for alleged violations of rules such as whether they put their trash out early or whether they had a tree growing in front of their home, while other residents whose behavior was the same were not subjected to the same treatment.
Moreover, fines were imposed without the notice, opportunity to cure, or hearing required by the association’s bylaws and Maryland law. Disputed fines were then used to restrict the families’ access to the community pool and tennis courts, and their children were thrown out of the pool, even when they had pool passes.
This conduct took a profound toll on the families’ sense of safety and belonging in their own community, leading to parents limiting their children’s outdoor activities because they feared further harassment and ultimately leading one of the three plaintiff tenants to move out.
The complaint describes the Association’s President and one of its committee members stalking the Black tenants’ children, repeatedly filming them, and calling the police on them for such innocent behavior as playing in their own front yard, playing on the sidewalk, playing with a brightly colored water gun, and having a playful snowball fight. The Association’s president has repeatedly instructed Queen Anne Village’s lifeguards to remove these and other Black tenants and their children from the community pool even when they have valid pool passes.
Plaintiff Brittany Williams stated, “I’m sick and tired of being harassed by some of our neighbors and the community association. I moved here so my three young children could grow up in a safe, stable, affordable neighborhood. They should be allowed to play like every other child.”
“Everyone should have the freedom to enjoy their community without harassment,” said Lauren A. DiMartino, a lawyer at Brown, Goldstein & Levy. “Our clients are seeking nothing more than to live peacefully in their homes and participate equally in their community. This lawsuit seeks to hold accountable those who denied them those basic rights.”
The complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. Read it here. It was filed by Brittany Williams, Whitney Greenwood, Janice Brinkley, and Zico Realty LLC against Queen Anne Village Association, Inc., Pelican Property Management Company, Brodie Management, Inc., association president Max Wolfthal, and Association committee member Elizabeth Perry.
Learn more about BGL’s Fair Housing practice here.
ABOUT LAUREN A. DIMARTINO
Lauren’s client-centered practice is focused on ensuring diverse communities can thrive, whether it’s through challenging various types of discrimination including in housing, holding government actors accountable, or advocating for local businesses embroiled in dispute. She has a robust practice involving the Fair Housing Act, utilizing it to assist individuals and non-profits impacted by discriminatory conduct and to challenge systems perpetuating segregation. Learn more about Lauren here.
ABOUT ANDREW D. FREEMAN
Andy Freeman obtains results for his clients. A partner at Brown, Goldstein & Levy, he has won numerous verdicts, judgments and settlements of millions, tens of millions, and in one case, over one billion dollars by mastering the relevant law and getting to know his clients, their problems and the evidence in their cases. Andy has a history of winning difficult cases with complicated combinations of law and facts or novel legal issues. Learn more about Andy here.
ABOUT BROWN, GOLDSTEIN & LEVY
Founded in 1982, Brown, Goldstein & Levy is a law firm based in Baltimore, Maryland, with an office in Washington, DC. The firm is nationally recognized in a wide variety of practice areas, including complex civil and commercial litigation, civil rights, health care, family law, criminal defense, and appellate advocacy. Above all else, Brown, Goldstein & Levy is a client-centered law firm that brings decades of experience and passionate, effective advocacy to its clients’ fight for justice.