Article Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel

By Joe Kollin

Published March 24, 2008 

FORT LAUDERDALE - The county's human rights board on Wednesday backed a Jewish woman against the condo association that ordered her to remove a mezuzah from her door last year.

A three-member panel of the Broward County Human Rights Board unanimously found reasonable cause to believe the board at the Port Condominium discriminated against lawyer Laurie Richter, 29, when members ordered her to remove the 5-inch mezuzah she had temporarily attached to her doorpost.

A mezuzah is a small case containing a religious message that many Jews place on their door frames.

The association at the condo, at 1819 SE 17th St. in Fort Lauderdale, "hasn't shown a legitimate reason for its actions," Randy Fleischer, chairman of the human rights board, said after the hearing. It is clear, he said, that the condo association exceeded its authority by threatening Richter with a $1,000 fine for attaching something to her door frame.

Board members Hillary Tescher and Don Samuels agreed the case raises possible federal, state and county fair-housing law violations.

The next step in Richter's battle is expected to be mediation between her and the association that operates the 16-story, 129-unit building. If that doesn't work, Richter's attorney, Randall C. Berg Jr., said he will file a lawsuit for an unspecified amount of damages against the association. Damages could include her attorney's fees, emotional distress, pain and suffering.

If the parties mediate or a lawsuit is filed, the Civil Rights Division of the Broward County Office of Equal Opportunity will withdraw from the case, according to Assistant County Attorney Beth-Ann Herschaft. Otherwise, the division will charge the association with violating Richter's civil rights, which carries a fine of up to $11,000.

Division Director Earline Horne said she would rather see the two sides work out their differences than bring charges.

Meanwhile, the state House last week passed a measure that makes it illegal for a condo board to refuse a unit owner's request to display a small religious object on a door frame. The Senate is expected to consider the bill today or Friday

Richter, a Fort Lauderdale lawyer, rented the condo apartment in December 2006 and attached the mezuzah to the doorpost. She said after seeing Christmas wreaths on doors in the building, she didn't think a mezuzah would be forbidden.

On Jan. 24, 2007, the association accused Richter of violating a rule that prohibits residents from attaching anything to association-controlled property without permission. She was wrongfully told that included door frames, the human rights board found.

If Richter didn't remove the mezuzah, the association warned her, she would face a fine up to $1,000 or, she thought, possibly eviction.

State Attorney General Bill McCollum and Miami-based U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta got involved and on March 26 the board agreed to let Richter keep the mezuzah. She remained in the apartment until December, then rented a single-family house in Fort Lauderdale that is not governed by an association.

Condo tenant wins fight to keep mezuzah