Court sides with Louisville Tenants Union in lawsuit filed against landlord, company

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A judge issued a statewide restraining order against a Kentucky landlord Wednesday in a historic win for the Louisville Tenants Union.

Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Julie Kaelin issued the order against New Jersey company, OSPM, that manages multiple properties in Kentucky.

It's part of a lawsuit filed by a Regency Park Apartments tenant who said she was retaliated against after she started organizing with the Louisville Tenants Union.

The resident said she received threats of eviction after speaking with her neighbors about organizing.

Kaelin's order means under Kentucky's anti-retaliation law, if the landlord decreases services, files evictions or any other retaliatory measures it will be held in contempt for doing so.

The law is within the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, which protects tenant union members in Jefferson County, as well as other jurisdictions.

"This is a legal result that confirms what every tenant who has tried to organize a union already knows to be true: that retaliation is illegal, that union busting inflicts irreparable harm on them and their families, and that housing regulations are meaningless without a serious way to enforce them," Andrew Chandler, the Louisville attorney who argued for the injunction, said in a news release. "Tenants on these properties no longer have to live in fear of losing their housing or having their utilities shut off simply because they are organizing to build power in their own homes."

The Louisville Tenants Union will hold a press conference about the ruling Thursday from 11-11:30 a.m. at the Jefferson County Hall of Justice on South Sixth Street in downtown Louisville.

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