Nearly evicted over urine leak on balcony, man files housing discrimination suit
A Michigan man has filed a discrimination suit after nearly evicted from his government-subsidized senior apartment building because a downstairs neighbor complained that urine had leaked from a container on his balcony.
Plaintiff Steven Hamblin is disabled and suffers from a number of health problems, including congestive heart failure, obesity and incontinence, says a federal civil rights suit he filed this week in Grand Rapids against those in charge of the Grandview Apartments building.
The complaint by attorney John Smith of Legal Aid of Western Michigan admits that at least one container of urine on his client’s seventh-floor balcony did leak, according to MLive.com and WZZM.
However, Hamblin should not be evicted over this resolvable issue, the complaint contends, because his conduct is protected under the federal Fair Housing Act and Michigan’s Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act.
“On several occasions his urge to urinate came on fast and he could not reach his bathroom,” writes Smith in the suit. So, “[r]ather than urinate on himself, Mr. Hamblin urinated into jugs and other containers.”
It is difficult for Hamblin to clean up his apartment due to his disabilities, which restrict his movement and make it hard for him to bend down, the suit says. But with the help of a housekeeper provided by the state Department of Health and Human Services, his home passed a Nov. 30 inspection.
A Grand Rapids district judge originally issued an eviction order. That order was then reversed by Kent County Circuit Court earlier this month, which remanded the case back to district court for trial, the articles explain.
A lawyer for Grandview told MLive.com that he hadn’t yet had a chance to review the suit and hence declined comment.
The suit seeks injunctive relief, compensatory damages and attorney’s fees.
