The Virginia Attorney General's Office is suing a Newport News landlord for the tune of $8 million for his alleged 'horrific treatment' of Black, female tenants, through a targeted campaign of 'abusive, racist and sexist' behavior.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Newport News Circuit Court by Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring, contends that David Lee Merryman subjected slews of boarders to 'alarming' and 'egregious' examples of discrimination - and even full-on physical abuse - which only came to light after an extensive investigation by the state's Office of Civil Rights (OCR).
Herring alleges that Merryman routinely harassed, threatened, and refused critical repairs for renters, because of their race and gender - and attacked one woman when she requested such repairs.
In one disturbing case detailed in the complaint, the Virginia landlord even threatened the lives of a Black, female tenant and her children, leading the tenant to obtain a restraining order against him.
'He most definitely was a landlord from hell,' one tenant told The Daily Beast.
Herring now demands that Merryman, 56, promptly pay at least $8 million in compensation to these tenants, for his 'willful, wanton and blatant pattern and practice of discriminatory behavior.'
Merryman routinely harassed, threatened, and refused critical repairs for renters, because of their race and gender - and attacked one woman when she requested such repairs
The criminal complaint contends that Merryman often promised tenants - typically Black women with children and on government assistance - to fix properties once they moved in, and would subject them to threats of violence and racial slurs when asked to make good on his word.
Once tenants signed a lease, Merryman would routinely leave them to live in third-world conditions, Herring's complaint alleges.
Merryman's properties would often be plagued by plumbing leaks, sewage problems, structural issues, and a lack of 'basic kitchen elements,' the suit notes.
What's more, the homes were even plagued by 'electrical problems that have resulted in fires.'
In some cases, tenants paid for these repairs out of their own pockets, according to the filing.
In many other instances, however, renters were forced to move out of Merryman's properties when confronted with such conditions, the lawsuit asserts.
Tenants have called police 'dozens of times... asking for protection from Merryman,' the complaint also asserts.
It adds that Merryman once physically assaulted a female tenant who was requesting repairs, and he had to be held back by others as he said, 'Let me at that b****.'
When that tenant was getting a protective order against Merryman, the complaint says, he removed 'all her possessions' from the property.
Other times, the suit says, Merryman had tenants' cars towed or went into their homes - a direct violation of US landlord-tenant law.
The lawsuit was filed Thursday by Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring, who says he 'will never tolerate discriminatory landlords in Virginia'
The complaint then adds that when asked to make good on these repairs, Merryman would often threaten these women with physical violence or berate them because of the color of their skin.
'Tenant requests for repairs are often met with threats of violence, insults and other forms of retaliation,' the filing attests, adding that city officials and police reports 'corroborate Merryman's abusive conduct toward his Black and female tenants.'
Merryman 'conducts this pattern and practice of housing discrimination by using racial and gender-based epithets against his tenants in a campaign to demean them, all while holding over them the fact that he controls whether they have a roof over their head,' Herring's Thursday filing then asserts.
The racially charged language used by the landlord, the
