Suit Alleges Race Bias at Apartment Complex

LAKE FOREST — Two former apartment complex managers sued their onetime employer Friday, accusing him of wrongly firing them because they refused to follow his instructions to stop accepting black and Latino renters.

The managers, Matt and Michelle Spencer, contend in their suit that landlord Daniel Conway engaged in housing discrimination at his Conway Selective Living Apartments in Lake Forest.

They also allege that Conway hit Michelle Spencer in the jaw after firing the couple and that he improperly evicted them because they refused to comply with his instructions.

Conway did not return telephone calls to his home or office.

The lawsuit was filed after the Fair Housing Council of Orange County, alerted by tenants at Conway Selective Living Apartments, started working with the Spencers to gather information. The agency also helped to arrange a lawyer for the Spencers.

In July 1998, Conway sent a six-page letter to the Spencers, telling them that the previous owner “had lower type tenants that I want to grow out of,” the suit alleges.

According to the lawsuit, Conway wrote: “We will never have AA tenants until my onsite managers stop accepting blacks and mexicans. [sic] You are expected to bring in top flite [sic] tenants . . . I will accept nothing less.”