Meggen Lindsay of the Pioneer Press, wrote an article that raised the hairs on my arms ! It seems that a landlord, a Mr. Ronald Bathrick, 59, has to pay out big bucks to some ladies to settle claims he sexually harassed them.
The sum is $400,00.00! Even dividing that between the three women that filed the lawsuit, I think that's a lot of money man.
This Mr. Bathrick owns 2 buildings in Hastings, Mn. and another one in Inver Grove Heights and signed what's called a "consent decree" with the U.S. Dept. of Justice, they sued him in 2005, accusing him of violating the Fair Housing Act.
Justice Department attorneys sought to have the sonsent order approved.
The lawsuit claimed that Mr. Bathrick made the women have sexual contact with him if they wanted apartments and took "adverse action" against them when they objected
He of course denied the accusations, while the plaintiffs alleged that he sexually assulted them and at the same time threatened to toss them and their children out if they told anyone.
I thought that this part of the story was bad enough, until I finished reading the whole article...
It turns out that there was also NINE other women that were ready to testify to his harassment, and also sexual coercion in some cases.
One lady told of how he forced here to perform a sex act on him when she was behind in rent, another told of how he had physical contact with her and harassed her while she was only a teen and living with her mom.
Ok, this is somewhat better, he has to compensate the other 9 women as well as the three that filed the lawsuit.
He's agreed to pay $360,00. to the tenants, and a $40,000 penalty to the federal government.
The three women will split $160,00. and the others will split $200,00.
Mr. Bathrick is selling his Inver Grove property to make the payments, and oh ya, he has to hire a government-approved independent contractor to handle his residential properties and is forbidened from going into the buildings or speaking with the tenants for 5 years.
My last landlord had a really bad habit of just walking into my apt. and while I normally keep my doors locked anyway, the few times I didn't, he always seemed to be around...
He made the stupid mistake of doing while my worker and her husband were with me, and she reported him to the HRA and asked me if I wanted to take action against him. I was at a point where I was exhausted, after helping my son move, and I was in the process of getting ready to do the same.
I was raised different than that. I was taught to knock on closed doors and to go away if no one answered. Not my former landlord....
I guess landlords think that they're the next best thing to God...they got another think coming!