FREDERICKSBURG, Va., May 22, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- First Liberty Institute and attorneys with Hunton Andrews Kurth, LLP filed a federal lawsuit against the Evergreens at Smith Run and its parent company, Community Realty Company (“CRC”), alleging religious discrimination in housing by the management of the senior living community in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Ken and Liv Hauge, Evergreens residents who were threatened with eviction by the company last year for hosting a small Bible study.
You can read the lawsuit here.
“The management company’s hostility to religious residents violates federal law and taints Virginia’s long history of religious freedom,” said Lea Patterson, associate counsel for First Liberty. “We’re asking the court to hold the management company accountable for violating the Hauges’ right to exercise their faith in their home and to ensure no other residents have to suffer through what the Hauges have endured.”
Ken and Liv Hauge, both in their mid-80s, have been residents of the Evergreens since 2017. A retired pastor, Ken led a small Bible study in his personal capacity at the behest of other senior residents. The lawsuit claims that CRC and Evergreens management discriminated against the Hauges and others on the basis of religion, by first banning all residents from publicly saying grace before their meals, and then prohibiting the Hauges from hosting the Bible Study anywhere at the Evergreens, including within their own apartment, under threat of eviction.
In October of last year, First Liberty asked the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to investigate CRC for religious discrimination. An investigation is ongoing.
Learn more about Hauge’s case at FirstLiberty.org/Ken-Hauge
About First Liberty Institute
First Liberty Institute is a non-profit public interest law firm and the largest legal organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to defending religious freedom for all Americans.
To arrange an interview, contact Lacey McNiel at media@firstliberty.org or by calling 972-941-4453.
Contact: Lacey McNiel, media@firstliberty.org
Direct: 972-941-4453