The US Justice Department added three of Joseph Earl Lucas ' relatives as defendants in a lawsuit accusing the Amesville resident of sexual discrimination toward female tenants.
The case was filed in August 2023, in the US District Court Southern District of Ohio Eastern Division and is being overseen by Judge Michael H. Watson and Magistrate Judge Chelsey M. Vascura. In the amended complaint filed Feb. 21, the DOJ added defendants Jacob Bush of Amesville and Joie Carr and Jeremy Carr of Athens, who either owned rental property managed by Lucas or co-owned rental property with him. Defendants Jacob Bush and Joie Carr are Lucas’ grandchildren. Joie Carr is married to Jeremy Carr.
According to the amended complaint, since 2003 and continuing until at least 2023, Lucas subjected actual and prospective female tenants on properties he either owned or managed to discrimination based on sex, “including unwelcome and severe or pervasive sexual harassment, on multiple occasions.”
The document says the conduct included, but was not limited to:
“Offering to grant tangible housing benefits — such as reduced rent — to prospective female tenants in exchange for engaging in sexual acts with him;“Offering to grant tangible housing benefits — such as reducing rent or excusing late or unpaid rent — to female tenants in exchange for engaging in sexual acts with him;“Subjecting female tenants to unwelcome sexual touching;“Repeatedly driving by and entering the homes of female tenants without their permission and with no apparent legitimate reason to do so;“Requesting sexual acts from actual and prospective female tenants;“Making unwelcome sexual comments and sexual advances to female tenants and their female guests;“Demanding that female tenants engage in sexual acts with him in order to not lose housing; and“Taking adverse housing actions — such as refusing to provide needed maintenance services or initiating (or threatening to initiate) eviction actions — against female tenants who objected to or refused his sexual advances.”
The complaint lists several alleged incidents, some happening as long ago as 2004 and as recently as 2023.
Regarding Bush and the Carrs, the complaint alleged that Lucas’ discriminatory conduct was done while he exercised his authority as property manager for Bush and the Carrs. Since he acted as their agent, they are “vicariously liable" for Lucas’ conduct, “regardless of whether they knew or should have known of it.”
The complaint says, Bush has owned property mentioned in the lawsuit since 2009, while the Carrs owned their mentioned property from 2013 to 2002.
In the complaint, the US Department of Justice asks that the court:
Declare defendants’ discriminatory practices violate the Fair Housing Act;Prevent the defendants, their agents, employees, and successors, and all other persons in active concert or participation with them, from:Discriminating on the basis of sex, including engaging in sexual harassment, in any aspect of the rental of a dwelling;Interfering with or threatening to take any action against any person engaged in the exercise or enjoyment of rights granted or protected by the Fair Housing Act;Failing or refusing to take such affirmative steps as may be necessary to restore, as nearly as practicable, the victims of Defendants’ past unlawful practices to the position they would have been in but for the discriminatory conduct; andFailing or refusing to take such affirmative steps as may be necessary to prevent the recurrence of any discriminatory conduct in the future and to eliminate, as nearly as practicable, the effects of Defendants’ unlawful practices;Awards monetary damages to each person aggrieved by defendants’ discriminatory conductAssesses civil penalties against Defendants to vindicate the public interest; andAwards such additional relief as the interests of justice may require.
In the most recent court filing, entered on May 29, 2024, the court struck down defendants Jeremy and Joie Carr’s initial disclosures as they weren’t ordered to file them. They were also ordered to stop filing discovery documents until they are used in proceedings or the court orders otherwise.
UACT creates property spreadsheet
In a related matter, United Athens County Tenants issued a press release , on June 12 giving an update on the case. The group also published a list of the defendants’ 81 properties appraised at a combined value of $2,822,320, which is available with the online version of this story and on the UACT’s website.
The properties are in Amesville, Athens, Chauncey, Chesterhill, Coolville, Corning, Glouster, Jacksonville, Millfield, Nelsonville, New Marshfield, The Plains, Stewart and Trimble.
“No tenant should unwittingly rent from anyone in Joseph Lucas’ orbit,” UACT said. “UACT encourages tenants to review our spreadsheet to see if their current homes are on the list.”
The spreadsheet is the culmination of UACT’s searches on the Athens County Auditor’s Office website and includes any incorporated municipality.
UACT’s spreadsheet, which was verified by the Athens News’ own research, includes information on how the ownership of the properties changed hands between the defendants.
“As shown on the spreadsheet we derived from auditor records, in the year leading up to the government filing its lawsuit against Lucas, from October 7, 2022 through June 22, 2023, Lucas ‘sold’ the majority of his real estate holdings — 62 properties, including his own voting residence, appraised at a combined value of $2,397,930 — to Candi Bush for the grand total of $0.00,” UACT said. “Candi Bush then quickly ‘sold’ these properties to Jacob Bush, again for $0.00, and in each case the month following her ‘purchase’ of the property from Lucas.”
She then helped rent out some of the properties, using social media, through Bush’s wife, Emily Bush. Neither Emily Bush nor Candi Bush are defendants in the case.
According to the Athens County Auditor’s website, a majority of the properties that transferred for $0 changed ownership through either a warranty or survivorship deed.
According to the Franklin County Law Library, survivorship deeds convey a real estate title into the names of two or more people as joint tenants with rights of survivorship. Upon the death of one of the owners, the property passes to the surviving owner or owners.
Warranty deeds are deeds in which the seller guarantees that they hold clear title to a piece of real estate and have a right to sell it to the buyer. This deed protects the buyer against title defects arising at any point in time, extending back to the property’s origins.
UACT said if the defendants are found guilty, it urges the DOJ to not only put the Lucas family out of business as landlords but to seize and sell all of their rental properties and give the sale proceeds to the victims.
“Along with helping to satisfy any financial judgment against the defendants or settlement and providing survivors some redress, this would serve as a much needed warning to other Athens County landlords reported to have engaged in similar behavior, and potentially deter future would-be predators,” UACT said.
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