MEMORANDUM

To: All Senate Members

From: Senator Bill Seitz
Date: June 12, 2014
Re: Co-Sponsorship Request


I will soon be introducing legislation that will mirror federal fair housing laws in terms of the relief
allowed to fair housing organizations under Ohio fair housing laws. Ohio law has created an
environment that incentivizes fair housing organizations to aggressively file discrimination charges
against housing providers, whether there is an actual injured party or not, and force the provider into
settling the case since fighting the charges is a costly and lengthy judicial procedure. Such is the case of
Helen Grybosky, whose story was brought to my attention by former State Senator Kevin Coughlin and
the National Real Estate Investors Association:
In 2008, the 76 year old Helen Grybosky, a housing provider, was subjected to undercover
testers from the Fair Housing Resource Center (FHRC), a private non-profit organization, on
eight separate occasions posing as fictitious applicants with fictitious familial factors and
medical conditions. FHRC later filed two complaints with the United States Department of
Housing and Urban Development alleging discrimination against Ms. Grybosky on the
grounds of disability and familial status. HUD sent the complaints against Ms. Grybosky to the
Ohio Civil Rights Commission (OCRC) for a probable cause investigation for alleged damages.
Because Ohio law imposes mandatory attorney fees and mandatory damages in cases such as
this, whether egregious or justified, OCRC in 2013, five years after the original complaints were
unjustly filed (these cases are required to be resolved within one year), ruled that Ms. Grybosky
pay $100 in actual damages and over $9000 in attorney fees. When all was said and done, she
owed over $40,000 in attorney fees to defend this action.
Ms. Grybosky is one of many housing providers who are subjected to such claims where there is no
injured party filing claims of discrimination. The case against Ms. Grybosky was raised by the FHRC, NOT
an actual individual with real disabilities or specific needs associated with their familial situation. To
combat such egregious cases and to ensure that such cases of actual discrimination are filed and dealt
with appropriately, my legislation mirrors federal law in three regards:
1) Make actual damages, attorney fees, and punitive damages discretionary;
2) Allows respondents to recover attorney fees if they are the prevailing party; and
3) Exempt housing providers who own fewer than four units from the section.
This legislation will also prohibit actual or punitive damages from being awarded to a fair housing
agency, and allow for punitive damages to only be awarded in cases of actual malice, and limit punitive
damages to no greater than twice the amount of the actual damages just as we have done in Ohios tort
law statutes. Furthermore, punitive damages are not to exceed $5000 on the first offense. Through
these changes, we hope to level the playing field between the government, fair housing advocates, and
housing providers.
If you are interested in co-sponsoring this legislation please contact my Legislative Aide, Alex Lapso, at
614-466-8068 or seitz@ohiosenate.gov by 4:30pm on June 19, 2014.