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TEXAS LANDLORD WHO ALLEGEDLY HARASSED

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The former manager of a Texas apartment complex, who allegedly sexually harassed female tenants and evicted those who resisted his advances, will pay $150,000 in damages to 17 women and stay out of property management for four years, under an agreement reached today with the Justice Department.

The agreement, entered by U.S. District Judge Jerry Buchmeyer in Dallas, settles a Justice Department suit brought under the Fair Housing Act in March 1999. The suit alleged that Kevin Hinds, the former manager of a McKinney, Texas apartment engaged in a pattern of sex discrimination including making repeated sexual propositions and sexual assaults.

Under the agreement, Hinds and his now-defunct company, Stillmeadow Property Management, Inc., will pay $150,000 to the United States, which will distribute the damages to the 17 women. The consent order permanently bars Hinds from contacting any of the women or their minor children, and it bars him from owning or managing residential rental property for four years.

"Sexual harassment in the home is less well-known than sexual harassment in employment, but it is just as devastating -- especially when, as in this case, the victims are single mothers with literally no place else to go," said Bill Lann Lee, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. "Today's action sends the message that when a landlord abuses his power in this way, he will be held accountable for his actions."

Hinds managed the property from 1989 to 1995 on behalf of Prestonwood Properties, Inc., the property's then-owner, which was in turn owned by Kevin Hinds's brother, Ronald Hinds, and their father, Leslie Hinds. Prestonwood, Ronald Hinds, and Leslie Hinds, also defendants, will be dismissed from the case under a separate agreement. Kevin Hinds denied the accusations and did not admit liability in the consent order.

The case originated in 1995, when several women filed housing complaints with the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) alleging sexual harassment by Kevin Hinds. HUD found the women's claims credible and referred the case to the Justice Department for prosecution. The lawsuit did not involve the current owners or managers of Manor House.

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