Lee Davis went apartment hunting in the Portland area last March and discovered that Holland Residential was renting and selling units at Miramonte Lodge, which sits along Kellogg Creek.
When the 58-year-old Davis mentioned to the general manager of the complex that he owned a 1-year-old pit bull named "Ipo Keikei," he was told the apartments had a "restricted breed list" and that pit bulls were among those restricted animals. So Davis gave his dog up to Clackamas County Animal Control so he could buy the unit, according to a federal lawsuit filed in Portland's U.S. District Court.
Pit bulls have a mixed reputation, alternately described as sweet-tempered and vicious. The good reputation of the breed, which includes the American Pit Bull Terrier, is sometimes sullied by unprovoked attacks, and the dogs are sometimes trained for illegal dogfights.
Davis, a senior applications analyst for a major healthcare organization, moved into Miramonte and soon discovered that several residents – all of them white or non-African American – kept dogs on the restricted breed list, the lawsuit alleges.
He now accuses those who own and manage the complex of racially discriminating against him by applying the dog-breed policy unequally.
An official at Holland Residential did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment about the lawsuit. A woman who answered the phone at Miramonte Lodge referred calls about the lawsuit to the complex's new managers, Dallas-based Pinnacle Property Management. A company spokeswoman said she had not yet seen the lawsuit and therefore could not comment.
Davis' complaint, filed late last week in Portland's U.S. District Court, accuses Holland Residential (doing business as Miramonte Lodge), of violating the Federal Fair Housing Act and the Oregon Civil Rights Act. He seeks unspecified damages.
(Oregon Live - Aug 5, 2015)
He was probably the only pit owner who was honest enough to admit his dog was a pit. Didn't stop him from giving up his dog though.
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