The owner, former property manager, and contractor of an apartment building in Lewiston have agreed to pay a total of $39,500 to resolve allegations that the former property manager and his contractor sexually harassed a female tenant. The Justice Department filed the lawsuit in June 2024 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine. The suit claimed that from 2019 through 2020, the defendants made repeated unwanted sexual comments and engaged in non-consensual touching toward a female tenant.
The case is titled United States v. Methuselah Tree, LLC., Robert Ross, RLR Enterprises, Brian Bennett, and Henry Irvin Investments, LLC. The tenant was represented by Pine Tree Legal Assistance after filing a complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). HUD investigated the complaint, issued a charge of discrimination, and referred it to the Justice Department.
According to settlement agreements, the former property owner will pay $35,000 to the former tenant. The former property manager will pay $1,500 and his contractor will pay $3,000. Both must complete Fair Housing Act training and are prohibited from engaging in property management or residential maintenance for one year. These settlements do not constitute an admission of liability by any defendant.
"If you are a victim of sexual harassment by a landlord or property manager or have suffered other forms of housing discrimination, call the Justice Department’s Housing Discrimination Tip Line at 1-800-896-7743 or submit a report online. More information about the Civil Rights Division and the laws it enforces is available at www.justice.gov/crt."
The settlement comes as part of the Justice Department’s Sexual Harassment in Housing Initiative led by its Civil Rights Division alongside U.S. Attorneys’ Offices nationwide. Since its launch in October 2017, this initiative has resulted in 49 lawsuits alleging sexual harassment related to housing issues and recovered more than $16 million for victims across the country.
