ACLU lawsuit alleges Georgia woman evicted for having black guests

A Georgia woman sued her former landlords, accusing them of evicting her because she invited her black co-worker and his 5-year-old son to her home, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union.

In the lawsuit, Victoria Sutton said her landlords, Allen and Patricia McCoy, used “a series of threats and racial epithets,” some of which Sutton claims to have recorded, and that they “threatened to call the police” and to “harm Ms. Sutton physically” if she tried to contest the eviction from her northern Georgia home.

Since Sutton moved into the apartment in August 2017, her landlord repeatedly used the N-word, the lawsuit alleges.{mosads}

In September 2018, she said she invited her black co-worker and his son for a play date with her daughters before Allen McCoy approached her and said Sutton had to go.

The situation continued to escalate, and Patricia McCoy allegedly threatened to press charges when Sutton said she had rights and that she wouldn’t leave the property.

In one instance, Patricia McCoy allegedly said: “Maybe you like black dogs, but I don’t. So just get your stuff and get out.”

Sutton was handed an eviction notice in October and left in December “for the safety of her family,” according to court documents.

Sutton’s attorneys say the landlords violated the federal Civil Rights Act and the federal and state Fair Housing Acts, the lawsuit says. Sutton is seeking damages for her “unlawful housing discrimination based on race,” the lawsuit says.

Patricia McCoy denied the allegations, telling the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she’s “got best friends that’s black people,” adding that she asked Sutton to leave because the property was a mess.

“It took me four months to get it back to where I could rent it out again,” she told the Journal-Constitution. “I could sue her and make her replace all the stuff she tore up in there. It cost me $5,000.”