DOJ reaches settlement agreement with Miller-Valentine over Fair Housing, ADA claims

DAYTON — The U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday an agreement with Miller-Valentine Operations Inc. that would result in the company paying $475,000 to resolve claims that they violated the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

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The claims surrounding the case involved designs and construction of apartment complexes that were “inaccessible to persons with disabilities.”

The apartment complexes in the Miami Valley that were part of the case included:

• Aspen Grove Apartments, Middletown, OH
• Bent Tree Apartments I, Piqua, OH
• Bent Tree Apartments II, Piqua, OH
• Brookstone Apartments, Bellefontaine, OH
• Carriage Trails Senior Villas, Huber Heights, OH
• Cedar Trail, Bellbrook, OH
• Cobblegate Square Apartments, Moraine, OH
• Deerfield Crossing, Lebanon, OH
• Fox Run, Trotwood, OH
• Hoover Place, Dayton, OH
• Hunter’s Oak Apartments, Greenville, OH
• Lofts at Hoover, Dayton, OH
• Lyons Place I, Dayton, OH
• Lyons Place II, Dayton, OH
• Meadow View South, Springboro, OH
• Pheasant Run Senior, Dayton, OH
• Siena Village Senior Living, Dayton, OH
• Stone Creek Apartments, Moraine, OH
• Sycamore Creek Apartments, Sidney, OH
• Timber Ridge Apartments, Dayton, OH
• Timberlake Apartments, Vandalia, OH
• Wind Ridge Apartments, Tipp City, OH
• Windsor Place, Beavercreek, OH
• Wright Place Apartments, Xenia, OH

The settlement will still need approved by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio and would resolve the May 2019 lawsuit.

“Under the terms of the settlement, the defendants must take extensive corrective actions to make the complexes accessible to persons with disabilities,” the U.S. Department of Justice said. “These include replacing excessively sloped portions of sidewalks, installing properly sloped curb ramps and walkways to allow persons with disabilities to access units from sidewalks and parking areas, providing sufficient room for wheelchair users in bathrooms and kitchens, and removing accessibility barriers in public and common use areas at the complexes.”

Under the agreement, Miller-Valentine and its affiliated companies will pay $400,000 to establish a settlement fund to compensate individuals with disabilities who were harmed by the accessibility violations and $75,000 in civil penalties to the government to vindicate the public interest.

Apartment complexes in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia in addition to Ohio.

More than 3,000 apartment units are impacted in the lawsuit.

Cox Media Group