Suit Alleges Racial Bias in Apartment Rental Policy

A lawsuit that accuses the manager and owner of a Sherman Oaks apartment complex of discriminating against blacks has been filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The suit, filed this month by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, maintains that the owner and management of the Magnolia Palms Apartments, a two-building complex on the 4400 block of Murietta Avenue, had a policy against renting apartments to blacks.

The manager of the complex, D. Lou Rayburn, declined comment on the suit. The owner, Jack L. Bush, could not be reached for comment.

According to the suit, a tenant, Lorraine Castelli, who is white, moved into the complex Sept. 1 of last year and told Rayburn that a roommate would soon be moving in. The roommate, Suprena Stephens of Minneapolis, Minn., who is black, moved in Sept. 3, the suit said.

About two weeks later, Rayburn told Stephens she would have to complete an application to live in the apartment, according to the suit. Rayburn later told Stephens that she could not live in the apartment because she had no California driver’s license, had not lived in the state for eight months, had not established credit and did not have a car, the suit said.

The suit said Stephens was employed at the time and had references.

A month later, when Stephens obtained a driver’s license and opened a bank account, she asked for another application, the suit said. Rayburn told her that she would not give Stephens a new application and that none would be accepted from her, she said. Stephens was forced to move from the complex Nov. 11, 1988.

The suit also said that Richard Harder, who presently lives at the complex, also was a victim of the discrimination policy. The suit said that Bush observed Harder around the complex March 3 and informed Rayburn that she should not have rented apartments to black tenants, even though Harder had lived there with a white roommate for more than a year.

The suit also charged that Harder’s monthly rent was raised the following day from $675 to $702, even though he had been told the day before that he did not have to worry about rent increases. The suit said the rents on apartments inhabited only by whites were not raised.

Stephens and Harder are seeking unspecified damages, the suit said.