Jury sides with Maui couple in condo lawsuit over disability

WAILUKU >> A jury has sided with a Maui couple in a $1.9 million disability discrimination lawsuit against their condo association, which fined them thousands of dollars for uncarpeted floors and attempted to sell their unit in foreclosure.

The Villas at Kenolio Association of Apartment Owners fined the couple $200 a day over a two-year period for floors that Greg White said help him see where he is going, said Eric Ferrer, the lawyer who represented White and his wife, Michele.

“It was totally egregious,” he said Wednesday. “It was retaliation.”

The wooden floors in the couple’s unit violated the community’s rules, which require second-floor units to have carpeting to muffle noise to the units below, the condo board said.

The floors help White navigate through the home, the couple said. He is blind in his left eye and visually impaired in his right eye. The floor’s dark color and the sound it makes when White steps help him know where he is walking, Ferrer said.

The couple explained that to the board, which denied their exception request.

Ferrer cited an email by Jason Strahn, a former member of the condo board, who argued White’s vision must “not be that terrible” since he still walks his dogs, even though White submitted medical records.

The case went to trial in 2nd Circuit Court on July 2. The jury concluded White had a disability and that the couple had asked for a reasonable accommodation.

“We were vindicated 100 percent. It’s a sense of relief that you almost have to pinch yourself that it’s really over,” he said.

The board declined to comment. The association’s attorney could not immediately be reached.