Justice Department Sues Pennsylvania Landlord for Sexual Harassment in Housing

The Justice Department announced today that it filed a lawsuit against Venkatachalam Mani, a landlord in State College, Pennsylvania, for sexually harassing a female tenant and retaliating against her when she refused his advances, in violation of the Fair Housing Act. “The landlord failed to fix a tenant’s furnace despite freezing temperatures because the female tenant refused his sexual advances, forcing her family to move out with no other place to live,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This conduct is illegal. The Justice Department will uphold the rights of female tenants to housing without the threat of sexual harassment by a landlord.” “Attempts to exploit tenants for sexual favors, sexual assault, and retaliation by landlords will never be tolerated in the Middle District of Pennsylvania,” said U.S. Attorney Brian D. Miller for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. The lawsuit, filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, alleges that Mr. Mani made sexual advances toward a female tenant, including unwelcome sexual touching. After the tenant rejected his advances, Mr. Mani failed to respond to the tenant’s repeated requests for maintenance, including repairing a broken furnace in the middle of winter that eventually caught fire. The lawsuit seeks monetary damages for the tenant and her children and a court order barring future discrimination. The case was referred to the Department after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development received a complaint, completed an investigation, and issued a charge of discrimination. If you are a victim of sexual harassment by another landlord or property manager or have suffered other forms of housing discrimination, call the Justice Department’s Housing Discrimination Tip Line at 1-800-896-7743 or submit a report online . More information about the Civil Rights Division and the laws it enforces is available at www.justice.gov/crt . This complaint is part of the Justice Department’s Sexual Harassment in Housing Initiative . The initiative, which the Department launched in October 2017, seeks to address and raise awareness about sexual harassment by landlords, property managers, maintenance workers, loan officers, and other people who have control over housing. Since launching the initiative, the Department has filed 53 lawsuits alleging sexual harassment in housing and recovered approximately $19 million for victims of such harassment.