ST. LOUIS – A lesbian couple is alleging discrimination in a lawsuit against Friendship Village Sunset Hills, claiming a representative denied them an apartment at the senior living community because of their sexual orientation.
The complaint was filed by Mary Walsh. 72, and Beverly Nance, 68, on July 25, 2018, in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri, Eastern Division. The women allege that the senior living community violated the Fair Housing Act and the Missouri Human Rights Act.
The ACLU Missouri Foundation is assisting with their case.
The women, legally married in Massachusetts in 2009, claim they were denied residence at Friendship Village Sunset Hills, after confirming that they are in a same-sex relationship.
On July 25, 2016, Carmen Fronczak, the residence director who had shown the couple apartments, called Walsh and asked about the nature of her relationship with Nance, according to the lawsuit.
Walsh informed Fronczak that the women were spouses, and that they had been together for 37 years, according to the lawsuit.
On July 27, 2016, Fronczak called Walsh and told her that Friendship Village would not accept them as residents, because they are a same-sex couple, according to the lawsuit. Walsh said that she was told that Friendship Village “defined marriage as between a man and a woman.”
The couple was stunned and disappointed to receive such a call, according to the lawsuit. During their visits to Friendship Village, nothing of this nature had been mentioned, and the director had been urging them to move there, the couple said in their filing.
The complaint stated that “defendants’ conduct was willful, intentional, and knowing, and/or was implemented with callous and reckless disregard for plaintiffs’ rights under the law. Despite repeated warnings, defendants denied housing to plaintiffs and continued to maintain and enforce their Cohabitation Policy.”
The couple said they had become interested in Friendship Village after Nance went to lunch there with a former colleague and his wife.The couple was attracted to Friendship Village, “because of its Life Care program, which provides a full range of on-site care at the same low cost for life,” according to the lawsuit.
They said they were told that they could move into an independent living unit, but if either of them needed a higher level of care in the future, they would be able to obtain that care on site. They learned that Friendship Village was the only senior living community in the St. Louis area with this type of program.
“Ms. Fronczak told the couple that if they signed all the agreements by the end of July, she would apply the 2015 entrance fee to them for their unit, which was significantly cheaper than the 2016 entrance fee that had gone into effect on July 1, 2016," according to the lawsuit.
In addition, Fronczak said she would waive the additional $12,000 entrance fee for the second person in a couple that had also gone into effect on July 1, 2016.
The lawsuit alleges that the couple then notified the Village that they would be putting their home on the market shortly thereafter. Shortly after that, the lawsuit alleges that the women were asked about the nature of their relationship, and then refused residence.
ACLU Missouri Foundation assisted with filing
After several attempts to work things out, the couple sought help from the ACLU Missouri Foundation and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, according to the lawsuit. Attorneys for these organizations worked together to file a discrimination suit against Friendship Village and its owners.
As stated in the complaint, plaintiffs Mary Walsh and Beverly Nance respectfully requested that the court grant a declaratory judgment that the defendant violated the federal Fair Housing Act and the Missouri Human Rights Act.
They also requested a permanent injunction enjoining and restraining the defendant and its agents and all other persons in active participation with them, from denying housing to Walsh and Nance on the basis of sex.
An additional request in the complaint was made for an order that “defendants develop and implement policies, practices, and procedures to prevent unlawful discrimination on the basis of sex and to eliminate, to the extent practicable, the effects of defendants’ unlawful policies and practices.”
Awards of actual and compensatory damages and punitive damages against defendants “in an amount sufficient to deter similar discriminatory conduct in the future” was made. Reimbursement for plaintiff’s costs and attorneys’ fees was also requested.
Attorneys representing Walsh and Nance include Jessie Steffan, Anthony E. Rothert and Gilliam R. Wilcox, ACLU of Missouri Foundation, and Amy Whelan, Julie Wilensky, National Center for Lesbian Rights. Also listed are Michael Allen and Joseph J. Wardenski, Relman, Dane & Colfax. Attorney Arlene Zarembka was also named.