A blind woman from Chicago is suing a Grayslake couple for housing discrimination, saying she was refused a rental because she uses a guide dog.
Theresa De La Font, 29, contends that the couple, Richard K. and Marjorie Brenton, would not even show her the home in January because she had a dog, a black Labrador named Zanth. She wanted to live in the house because it is less than a mile from the College of Lake County, where she planned to pursue a degree in education.
In her lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, De La Font said she suffered economic loss, severe emotional injury, embarrassment and humiliation as a result of the Brentons’ alleged discrimination.
De La Font said that though she had gotten used to a certain amount of discrimination, “this was the last straw.”
“Enough was enough,” she said.
De La Font’s father, William, who was going to rent the house with his daughter and joined her in the lawsuit, said Richard Brenton told him that he did not want the dog making a mess in the house.
The Brentons could not be reached for comment .
“My daughter has had the dog for 10 years. It’s never made a mess in the house,” said De La Font, 55. “Something in me said, `Enough is enough. This just is not right.’ “
De La Font said he has two other children who are legally blind, and they, too, have been discriminated against.
“Since they were little, I’ve basically accepted (the discrimination),” he said. “I would just say, `I don’t want to get into a hassle.’ But this time . . . it rubbed me the wrong way . . . People just have to understand these dogs are well-mannered dogs.”
Landlords are prohibited from discriminating against potential tenants with disabilities by the U.S. Fair Housing Act, said Patricia Konicki, director of the Fair Housing Center of Lake County, a not-for-profit agency that deals with housing discrimination.
Konicki said she tried unsuccessfully to get the Brentons to reconsider, reminding them that refusing housing to someone because of a disability was illegal and that they could be fined $10,000 for violating federal law.
Konicki said her agency tracked 43 cases of housing discrimination in Lake County from May 1, 1997, to April 30.
De La Font’s lawyer, Jeffrey Taren, said this was “an egregious case” because the Brentons appeared to know they were violating the law.
