Two Families Win $750K In Discrimination Civil Lawsuit Against Racist Landlord

The landlord of the Lazy Cove Campground told news outlets that she felt "betrayed" because she didn't know that Smith's husband was Black before arriving to the grounds.

Two families have been awarded $750,000 in a racial discrimination lawsuit after a jury ruled that the owner of a Virginia campground refused to rent to them because one of the campers was a Black man. On March 19, the family of Amanda Mills and Angela Smith won damages in their civil case against Regina Turner.

In June 2020, the Virginia Attorney General’s Office and the Virginia Fair Housing Board filed a lawsuit against Turner, the campground’s owner. The charges included one count of refusing to rent and two counts of discrimination.

After the suit was concluded, the Mills and Smith families were awarded $100,000 each for the incident and $550,000 in punitive damages.

Attorney General Jason Miyares explained in a news release that two friends, Amanda Mills and Angela Smith, took a joint family camping trip to Lazy Cove Campground in 2020. The problem arose with Turner when Smith, who is white, brought her husband and their 8-year-old son. Angela Smith’s husband, Damien Smith, is Black, and they all joined the Mills family on the campground for vacation.

After being there for a month, the Mills and Smith women got a phone call from Turner. Turner told Mills in the call, “You didn’t tell me that your friend’s husband is Black.”

“Had I known, I wouldn’t have rented the lot to them. I saw the son, but I figured everyone makes a mistake,” she said.

According to the Virginia Fair Housing Board complaint, Turner spoke to another campground tenant about the Smith family, stating that she was intentionally waiting until their lease was concluded before moving to evict them. Turner told the other tenant, “I can’t make them move now because if I give both of them moving notices now, they could take my park from me. I’m smart, you know, and I’ve got to use my head.”

Following the conclusion of the civil case, Turner revealed to The Washington Post that her late husband also refused to rent the campground to Black people, but now the Lazy Cove Campground accepts everyone. However, Turner admitted that she called Angela Mills about Damien Smith after feeling “betrayed” by not knowing he was Black.

Damien Smith expressed relief at winning the civil lawsuit but said it doesn’t take away his anger about the situation.

“It was like a sigh of relief, but at the same time, I’m still angry because we never should have had to go through this,” Smith told the Post.

“It was 2020 at the time, and somehow, we’re still getting judged by the color of our skin versus the kind of person we are.”

Rocky Mount Mayor Holland Perdue, Turner’s lawyer, has since filed a motion to discard the jury’s original verdict in the Smith and Mills case. The next court appearance about the discrimination case is scheduled for April 8.