Racist 'Landlord From Hell' Tortured Tenants During Pandemic, Lawsuit Says

[babylonsister]

Racist ‘Landlord From Hell’ Tortured Tenants During Pandemic, Lawsuit Says
NIGHTMARE
Renters hope that David Merryman will finally get his due now that the Virginia attorney general has slapped the landlord with an $8 million housing discrimination suit.
Andrew Boryga
Justice Reporter
Updated Oct. 05, 2021 5:38AM ET / Published Oct. 05, 2021 5:13AM ET


His Black tenants say he allegedly referrers to them as “n----s” who should “go back to Africa.” At least one white tenant says the man called her a “n----r lover” and warned her to “pay your bills like other white people.”

David Merryman, the 56-year-old owner of dozens of rental properties in Southeastern Virginia worth over $5 million, has had over a dozen arrests in the past two decades for threats and assaults, been cited hundreds of times by local city governments for code violations, and was suspended repeatedly from a local housing authority for dilapidated Section 8 rentals, according to city records obtained by The Daily Beast and court filings.

“He most definitely was a landlord from hell,” one tenant told The Daily Beast.

Recently, complaints from mostly Black, female tenants about Merryman’s behavior and subpar housing in Newport News, Virginia, made it to the desk of Attorney General Mark Herring.

On Thursday, Herring filed an $8 million housing discrimination lawsuit against Merryman for his alleged “horrific” treatment of tenants and a pattern of abusive, racist, and sexist behavior. The lawsuit is the first of its kind in Virginia, Herring told The Daily Beast. Housing advocates in the told The Daily Beast the state is thin on protections for renters and they hope the lawsuit will set a new tone for slumlords.

more...

https://www.thedailybeast.com/racist-landlord-from-hell-tortured-tenants-during-covid-19-pandemic-lawsuit-says?ref=home

[marble falls]

1. When the Virginia AG gets involves, it's bad. I hope he gets shut down.

[Amishman]

2. I'm normally cautious on making judgement when these types of stories pop up

Especially after the Smollett saga, but that prior arrest record is pretty damning and compelling.

Hope he gets what he deserves.

[ZonkerHarris]

8. Nice case of false equivalency you got building there

[Solomon]

10. Indeed. You noticed that too.

[LanternWaste]

12. Yeah.... this is *just* like the Smollet incident.

The hipster-style false equivalency you trotted out just to invoke the Gospel of Logical Fallacies is stunning.

[niyad]

3. May he, and his enablers, receive everything they deserve.

[SouthBayDem]

4. Not a very "Merry" man nt

[AllaN01Bear]

5. make him live in one of his units under a ankle bracelett arrest.

[KS Toronado]

6. Will the tenants see any of the $8 million

or will the state keep all of it like I assume they will?

[Midnight Writer]

7. Sounds like we have found Trump's next Secretary of Housing.

[GopherGal]

11. Heck, sounds more like a Trump heir

TFG will probably adopt him (since Ivanka's already married to a slumlord and Tiff's engaged.)

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

9. Kick