Cases We Take
Housing Harassment
All sexual harassment is awful, but when the harasser knows where you live and has keys to your house, it’s terrifying. Thankfully federal law and almost every state’s law prohibit landlords, property managers, and others employed in the housing business from using their access and authority to harass tenants and prospective tenants.
Have you been harassed?
Not sure if what happened to you is against the law? The law forbids all sorts of harassing conduct.
Federal law and most state laws forbid unwelcome, verbal or physical sexual behavior that is either “severe” or “pervasive.” The law also forbids what it calls “quid pro quo” harassment, which just means an unwelcome request or demand to engage in sexual conduct in exchange for something related to housing. You can read the federal regulation on these types of harassment here.
That’s not all. Sexual harassment often violates state laws against battery—which is when someone touches you without permission or a good reason—and assault—which is when someone puts you in fear that they’re going to touch you without permission or a good reason. Harassers who come to your home without permission are also trespassing. Many landlords don’t realize this, or don’t admit it, but if they are renting you the property, then they can’t come in whenever they want. If they don’t have a good reason or give you enough notice, coming in without your permission is trespassing, even if they own the property. In many housing harassment cases, we bring assault, battery, and trespass claims.
There may also be negligence involved. Sometimes there is a person or company that is responsible for supervising the harasser’s behavior. That person or company could be the property owner, the property management company, or even the harasser’s wife or partner. If that person or company knows the harasser is abusing their position to harass tenants, and they fail to take reasonable steps to prevent the harassment, they might be liable for negligence.
So, setting aside all the laws, what does housing harassment actual look like? Here are the most common examples of housing harassment we see:
Stalking
- Showing up at your home repeatedly for no reason
- Letting himself into your home without permission
- Calling or driving by to “check on you”
- Telling you that you’re not allowed to have male guests
Requests
- Asking you out on dates
- Asking you for nude or sexual photos
- Asking you for kisses, hugs, or other touching
- Asking you for sex
- Threatening to evict you or evicting you if you don’t give in to a request like these
Offers
- Asking you out on dates
- Asking you for nude or sexual photos
- Asking you for kisses, hugs, or other touching
- Asking you for sex
- Threatening to evict you or evicting you if you don’t give in to a request like these
Comments
- Telling you how pretty you are
- Making comments about your sex life or dating life
- Making comments about your hair or body
- Making comments about his sex life or dating life
- Making comments about his body to you
- Making comments about sex generally
Touching
- Touching you without your permission anywhere
- Touching an intimate part of your body
- Kissing you
- Sexual assault or rape
If this sounds familiar, then please let us know. We can help.
I still live in the harasser’s property—I’m worried about retaliation.
Federal law prohibits retaliation against tenants who complain about sexual harassment. That said, if you are worried about retaliation, we should talk about how to ensure your safety before we do anything to let your harasser know that you are talking to us. And—if you ever feel like your safety is in danger—you should call 911.
Make It Stop
Why your case is so important
It is so important for you to come forward. In case after case, we find out that the person who harassed our clients has been harassing tenants for years. In some cases, we identify 5, 10, or 15 other women who were harassed over the years.
Your case is important because you can make it stop. By coming forward, you can protect future tenants from what happened to you. Bringing a claim gives you the power in several ways. Just shining light on the behavior can stop it. We may also be able to include, as a condition of settlement, that the harasser has to leave the housing business. The investigation we do for your case may lead to so many other harassed tenants that the government will get involved. Certain government lawyers have special authority to seek court orders barring harassers from the rental business.
Not only can you stand up for yourself, you can stand up for others in your position. You can put an end to years, maybe decades, of harassment.
You should know
Here's Our Process
1. You get in touch
- You can call us at 708-722-2241
- You can text us at 708-394-7054
- You can email us at tom@civilrightsgroup.com
- You can fill out our website’s contact form
2. We’ll reach out
- Someone on our team will reach out
- We’ll ask you about what’s happened
- If you’re in the middle of the harassment, we can try to connect you with local service providers to help you move or get what you need
- We’ll ask you what you’d like to see happen
- We’ll explain what we do and your options
- It’s your decision to move forward
3. The Investigation
- If you decide you’d like to pursue a case (and your situation is one we think we can help with), then we’ll investigate
- We’ll ask you some more questions
- We’ll do a deep dive on the harasser (without his knowledge), using public records to try to find other folks who he has harassed (we often do)
4. Your Decision
- When we’re done investigating, we’ll tell you what we think
- We’ll tell you if we think your case is strong enough to justify a lawsuit
- We’ll tell you what we think the likely results could be
- We’ll tell you what you’ll need to do
- It’ll be your choice on whether to move forward with a lawsuit
5. The lawsuit
- We will file a lawsuit, most likely in federal court, on your behalf
- We’ll need your help to gather documents (like your lease, phone records, that sort of thing) and to answer written questions
- You may need to sit down with us and the other side’s lawyer for a formal interview called a deposition
- Fewer than 5% of cases go to trial, but if yours does, we’ll make sure you’re ready
6. Resolution
- These cases can settle at any time, most do
- As we learn more about your case, we’ll be able to tell you more accurately about what we think it’s worth
- Ultimately, it’s your decision about whether to settle or go to trial
7. We're Here
- Once you hire us, we’re with you the whole way
- Any time you have a question or just want to talk, we’ll be there for you
8. How do you get paid?
- We work on a contingency
- That means that we only get paid if we win money for you
- If we win money for you, we will take a portion as our fee
- We will pay the expenses necessary to pursue your case, paying ourselves back only if we win money for you
- All of this is spelled out in our short, written representation agreement
How much do these cases settle or resolve for?
Every case is unique and there is no one way to value a housing harassment case. Many of the cases that settle do so confidentially, meaning we never hear about them. These are examples of government and private results (some of which we had nothing do with). This may give you an idea of possible outcomes.
A housing agency agreed to pay $2.7 million to resolve allegations that two of its employees asked woman for sex in exchange for housing subsidy vouchers.
An individual landlord agreed to pay $2.12 million to settle allegations by private plaintiffs and the government that he sexually harassed 25 tenants.
The U.S. Department of Justice settled this case alleging that an Ohio landlord subjected his tenants to “unwelcome sexual advances; unwanted sexual touching; entering the apartments of female tenants without permission and notice … and taking adverse actions against the female tenants when they refused his sexual advances … .”
A private landlord agreed to pay this amount to resolve government and private allegations that he sexually harassed his female tenants for nearly 30 years.
This settlement went to 11 victims and a local fair housing agency based on allegations of sexual harassment and racial discrimination.
The government settlement resolved allegations that two St. Louis landlords harassed fifteen female tenants over a period of twenty years.
This government settlement involved 17 women and allegations of 10 years of unwanted sexual advances, groping, and asking for sexual favors.
A Cleveland jury awarded this amount based on allegations that a landlord with 35 properties harassed his female tenants.
A St. Paul landlord paid this amount to settle allegations that he subjected his female tenants “to unwanted sexual touching and advances, conditioned the terms of women’s tenancy on the granting of sexual favors, and entered the apartments of female tenants without permission or notice.”
A landlord paid this amount to settle claims that he sexually harassed a Civil Rights Group client with text messages. No touching or assault involved.
A Kansas landlord paid this amount to settle allegations that he sexually harassed his tenants.
A Michigan landlord paid this amount to settle allegations that he sexually harassed several tenants.
A west-cost landlord paid this amount to one of our clients to settle allegations of sexual harassment and assault.
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Started?
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