Attorneys for a Livingston County real estate agent and firm are asking a federal judge to throw out an interracial couple s lawsuit claiming housing discrimination in Hamburg Township.
Verdell and Julie Franklin, of Maumee, Ohio filed a housing discrimination suit earlier this year in U.S. District Court, alleging real estate agents Rick Beaudin and Mary Kay Ikens conspired to block them from making an offer on a home on Zukey Lake in September because Verdell Franklin in Black.
RE/MAX Platinum and KW Realty Livingston also were named as defendants.
Attorneys for Ikens and RE/MAX Platinum filed a motion earlier this week asking the judge to dismiss the suit. They argue Ikens never tried to dissuade the couple from making an offer because of their race.
January 25, 2021 By Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com
Most fair housing discrimination comes with a smile and a handshake - thatâs according to the Fair Housing Center of Southeast and Mid-Michigan, which covers ten counties, including Livingston, and takes about 170 complainants a year.
The Center recently aided an interracial couple in filing a federal lawsuit alleging racism and violations of the Fair Housing Act against two Livingston County real estate agents. The suit against real estate agents Rick Beaudin of KW Realty Livingston and Mary Kay Ikens of RE/MAX Platinum was filed by Verdell and Julie Franklin, who reside in Ohio but have been visiting friends for the past decade on Zukey Lake. Verdell is African American and his wife is white. They had hoped to purchase their dream home on the lake but a complaint states that the agents set forth various conditions and provided false information to dissuade them from making an offer becau
Credit Courtesy Verdell and Julie Franklin
Verdell and Julie Franklin had visited their friends on Zukey Lake in Hamburg Township many times over the last ten years, and when a house on the same lake came on the market in September, they were eager to see the property.
It was after their experience viewing the house that they decided to file a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Michigan. Julie is white and Verdell is Black. The lawsuit alleges housing discrimination, and that the real estate agents involved purposefully misled and prevented the Franklins from making an offer on the house because of race, in violation of the 1968 Fair Housing Act. The lawsuit was filed on Friday. class wysiwyg-break drupal-content src /sites/all/modules/contrib/wysiwyg/plugins/break/images/spacer.gif title break
It checked all the boxes for what the couple wanted, and was listed at $350,000. They were willing to go higher, but wanted to start off at $300,000. But they claim a real estate agent never even took their written offer.