A couple in Kihei, Hawaii, were awarded a $1.7 million judgement in a disability discrimination lawsuit filed after their condo association penalized them for installing wood floors in their unit, according to The Maui News.
A couple in Kihei, Hawaii, were awarded a $1.7 million judgement in a disability discrimination lawsuit filed after their condo association penalized them for installing wood floors in their unit, according to The Maui News.
Gregory and Michele White replaced the carpeting in their second-floor condo unit with wood floors in order to help Gregory, who is blind in one eye and vision-impaired in the other, see the room more clearly.
“The dark floor color contrasts with the white walls, enabling him to make out boundaries,” the report stated. The ability to feel the wood floor and hear steps also helped Gregory when walking in the room, according to the report.
The Villas at Kenolio Association of Apartment Owners, however, requires that rooms on second-floor units have carpeting in order to prevent noise in the units below. The Whites were denied an exception to the rule, and the association fined the couple $200 per day for the violation for 850 days, climbing to a total of $170,000 in fines. The association attempted to sell the unit at a foreclosure auction in 2015, but were blocked when the couple filed a complaint in court.
The jury deliberated for about four hours July 19 before reaching the unanimous verdict in favor of the Whites, deeming the request for wood floors as a reasonable accommodation from the association due to Gregory’s disability.
