West v. DJ Mortg., LLC

• Decision Date: 19 February 2016
• Docket Number: CIVIL ACTION NO. 1:15–CV–0397–AT
• Citation: 164 F.Supp.3d 1393
• Parties: Kayla West, Plaintiff, v. DJ Mortgage, LLC, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Georgia

164 F.Supp.3d 1393

Kayla West, Plaintiff,

v.DJ Mortgage, LLC, Defendant.

CIVIL ACTION NO. 1:15–CV–0397–AT

United States District Court, N.D. Georgia, Atlanta Division.

Signed February 19, 2016

Giselle Brianceschi Schuetz, Rebecca Houlding, Law Offices of Joshua Friedman, Mamaroneck, NY, Janet Elizabeth Hill, Hill & Associates, P.C., Athens, GA, Kristine Orr Brown, Orr Brown Johnson LLP, Gainesville, GA, for Plaintiff.

Andrew John Lavoie, John Anthony Christy, Schreeder Wheeler & Flint, LLP, Atlanta, GA, for Defendant.

ORDER

Amy Totenberg, United States District Judge

This matter comes before the Court on Defendant DJ Mortgage LLC's Motion to Dismiss [Doc. 6]. Plaintiff Kayla West filed this suit seeking relief under the Fair Housing Act of 1968 (“FHA”) as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 3601, et seq. Plaintiff alleges sexual discrimination and unlawful interference with her rights under the FHA arising from her rental of a single-family home from DJ Mortgage. DJ Mortgage argues that West failed to plead facts sufficient to state a claim. For the reasons set forth below, the Court DENIES Defendant DJ Mortgage's Motion to Dismiss.

I. STANDARD FOR MOTION TO DISMISS

A complaint should be dismissed under Rule 12(b)(6) only where it appears that the facts alleged fail to state a “plausible” claim for relief. Bell Atlantic v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555–56, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) ; Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). The plaintiff need only give the defendant fair notice of the plaintiff's claim and the grounds upon which it rests. See Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 93, 127 S.Ct. 2197, 167 L.Ed.2d 1081 (2007) (citing Bell Atlantic v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) ); Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a). In ruling on a motion to dismiss, the court must accept the facts alleged in the complaint as true and construe them in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. See Hill v. White, 321 F.3d 1334, 1335 (11th Cir.2003).

A claim is plausible where the plaintiff alleges factual content that “allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). A plaintiff is not required to provide “detailed factual allegations” to survive dismissal, but the “obligation to provide the ‘grounds' of his ‘entitle[ment] to relief’ requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955. The plausibility standard requires that a plaintiff allege sufficient facts “to raise a reasonable expectation that discovery will reveal evidence” that supports the plaintiff's claim. Id. at 556, 127 S.Ct. 1955. A complaint may survive a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim even if it is “improbable” that a plaintiff would be able to prove those facts and even if the possibility of recovery is extremely “remote and unlikely.” Id.

II. BACKGROUND

In early August 2013, West, a single mother with four children, emailed DJ Mortgage after seeing its Craigslist advertisement regarding a single family home it had available for rental. (Compl.¶ 12.) At the time of West's email, Gene Andrews was one of DJ Mortgage's Property Managers, and was responsible for handling maintenance requests, collecting rent, and taking care of tenant needs for the home in question. (Id. ¶¶ 10–11.) Andrews responded to West on behalf of DJ Mortgage and agreed to rent the home to her. (Id. ¶ 13.) After Andrews agreed to rent the home to West, he told West, “I'm gonna need you to give me a hug.” (Id. ) West brushed this comment off, because she did not consider it to be a serious sexual advance from Andrews. (Id. ¶ 42.)

A few days later, Andrews arranged to meet West in a parking lot so that she could receive her house keys and sign documents necessary to rent the home, including the rental lease. (Id. ¶¶ 15–17.) At this meeting, Andrews made a far more serious sexual advance towards West. While West sat in the passenger seat of Andrews' car and signed the rental lease and lead paint forms, Andrews reached over to the passenger seat, lifted West's skirt, and grabbed her genitals. (Id. ¶ 17.) West slapped Andrews' hand away, exited the vehicle, and drove away in her car. (Id. ¶¶ 17–18.) Despite Andrews' actions, West still decided to rent the house from DJ Mortgage, because she needed somewhere to live with her four children and had already paid her rental deposit. (Id. ¶ 19.)

Andrews' advances continued after West moved into the house. For example, on August 23, 2013, West requested that Andrews repair a bedroom door that had fallen off its hinges. After several days of delay, Andrews indicated that a repairmen was being sent out, then promptly asked West on a date, which she declined. (Id. ¶ 22.) Only two days after this incident, West contacted Andrews about a burst pipe, and Andrews again asked West on a date. (Id. ¶ 26.) After West again politely declined, a repairman came out to the house, but only fixed the burst pipe itself and did not repair “the soaked wall or remedy the other effects of the [resultant] flooding.” (Id. ¶ 28.) And just a few weeks later, on September 21, 2013, Andrews requested that West send him a nude picture. West had asked that Andrews send someone to repair mite-infested carpeting. After that repair was completed, West thanked Andrews. Andrews responded by saying, “You welcome. Maybe I can come get my pic.” After West responded “Which one?” Andrews replied by saying “The where [sic] I can see all that sexiness.” (Id. ¶ 35.) West declined all of Andrews' requests. (Id. ¶¶ 23, 26, 36.)

On those occasions where Andrews did not request a date or nude pictures from West in connection with her repair requests, he allegedly ignored those requests or threatened her with eviction. (Id. ¶¶ 22, 35, 42.) For example, West complained that her furnace was not working on September 14, 2013. In response, Andrews “said that he could get her out, and put other tenants in the property who would not ask that he provide the services and repairs that she was requesting.” (Id. ¶ 33.) And Andrews failed to fix West's refrigerator and furnace in late September of 2013. When West inquired specifically about the fridge and indicated that her food was going bad, he responded by saying “Do what you have to do.” (Id. ¶¶ 38–39.)

West informed DJ Mortgage of these facts in a letter she sent to it on October 21, 2013. There, she wrote:

every time [Andrews] did something to my home he asked for naked picture or asked to talk privately on the phone which I did not respond[,] so I'm afraid of being homeless because I did not give in to his actions, everything that's been going on I've become stressed with anxiety and panic attacks.

(Id. ¶ 42.)

West explained in the letter that during the two months she had been a tenant she experienced multiple problems with the house. Along with the problems described above, the air conditioner had stopped working, the toilet in the master bedroom was rendered useable, a kitchen sink pipe burst, there was water damage to the carpet in the family room, and mold grew in the walls. (Id. ) West also explained in the letter that Andrews lifted up her skirt and touched her genitals while she signed the house's rental lease and lead paint forms, and that Andrews asked her for a naked picture after he had carpet removed from the house. (Id. ) Because West did not receive a response to the first letter, she sent DJ Mortgage another copy of the letter several days later certified with proof of delivery. (Id. ¶ 43.)

For approximately a month following the first letter that West sent, “DJ Mortgage did nothing to indicate that it was concerned about her charges that [Andrews] had groped her, demanded nude photos and sex, in return for performing repairs.” (Id. ¶ 44.) In fact, even after West notified DJ Mortgage that Andrews molested her and was abusing his position of power, DJ Mortgage directed Andrews, West's alleged harasser, to contact West about her continued maintenance requests to repair the furnace. (Id. ¶ 46.)

On November 16, DJ Mortgage sent West a response letter. West immediately responded by calling DJ Mortgage's manager, Will Thompson. (Id. ¶¶ 52, 54.) Because DJ Mortgage did not return her call, West sent Thompson a letter on November 18 informing him again that her furnace was not fixed, and that mold in the house was causing her children to experience illness, asthma attacks, nose bleeds, and headaches. (Id. ¶ 55.) Shortly thereafter, on November 20, West met with Will Thompson and Dean Tilman, DJ Mortgage's owner. (Id. ¶ 56.) At this meeting, West showed them the text messages that she had received from Andrews during her tenancy and let Thompson know that she would not continue to pay rent as long as she felt the house was uninhabitable. (Id. ¶¶ 56–57.) A few days after the meeting, West received an undated letter from DJ Mortgage informing her that Andrews was no longer with DJ Mortgage. (Id. ¶ 58.) West alleges that Andrews was let go because he was demanding sex in return for reduced rent from other DJ Mortgage tenants. (Id. ¶ 60.)

West continued to experience problems with the home's conditions even after the departure of Andrews. (Id. ¶¶ 63, 69–70.) For example, in December 2013, the house's furnace stopped working again, causing the home's temperature to drop to 46 degrees, and forcing West and her four children to stay in a motel or with a neighbor throughout almost the entire 2013–14 winter and spring. (Id. ¶¶ 62, 69.) West sent repeated communications to DJ Mortgage concerning this problem, and in one of those e-mails, included a picture of her thermostat showing that the temperature in the house was 46 degrees. (Id. ¶ 62.) West decided to withhold rent during this time because of the uninhabitable and unbearably cold condition of the house. (Id. ¶¶ 57, 69–70.) West also informed DJ Mortgage that she...