George Willborn and Family File $100 Million Lawsuit Over Housing Discrimination

City

Comedy vet file $100M discrimination suit against Bridgeport homeowners

The 'dream' dwelling the Willborn family institute in the Bridgeport neighborhood on the S Side had everything they wanted: the 'man cave' for dad; basketball hoop in the backyard for the son; a individual bathroom for the daughter; and t

A home run had been hitting –– they idea. The 'dream' dwelling the Willborn family found in the Bridgeport neighborhood on the Due south Side had everything they wanted: the 'human cave' for dad; basketball game hoop in the backyard for the son; a private bathroom for the girl; and the ideal closet space for the mother, said comedian and radio personality George Willborn and his married woman Peytyn. The Willborns made a verbal bargain for $1.7 million with the owners, Daniel and Adrienne Sabbia, for the five-bedroom home at 3300 South. Normal Ave. Less than a calendar month after the agreement, the Sabbias refused to sign the contract and took the domicile off the market after they allegedly found out the Willborns were Blackness, according to a $100 million discrimination lawsuit filed Thursday. "No ane can sympathize what my family's gone through. We decided as a family unit that nosotros wouldn't buy a home unless it met the specific requirements of us all. This house had all those things we wanted. This was our house," Willborn said subsequently filing the suit in federal court. "It's very heartbreaking." Willborn, a Chicago native and 22-year comedy veteran, is the co-host of the nationally syndicated afternoon radio prove, "The Michael Baisden Show," heard in Chicago on WSRB-FM/106.3. The family's citywide search for the perfect domicile began in early 2009. After they reviewed about twoscore homes, in January they saw the palatial viii,000-foursquare-pes residence in Bridgeport and knew the search was over. The home had been on the market for about 2 years. Instead of the home run the Willborn's thought they hitting, it turned out to be a foul ball afterwards the owners allegedly did an internet search on the comedian and institute out he was Black, co-ordinate to the accommodate. The suit as well names Jeffery Lowe of Lowe Grouping Chicago, Inc. and Prudential Rubloff Backdrop. Both represented the Sabbias. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development filed a discrimination complaint this month against all defendants, stating they violated the Off-white Housing Human action. Calls made to the defendants past the Defender went unanswered. Texas-based attorney Charles Peckham, role of Willborn's legal squad that's led past Florida-based attorney Willie Gary, said no other decision could be drawn. "After they negotiated the price, the question then became could they afford it because they [Sabbias'] didn't know who they were. They apparently looked them upwards on the Internet and immediately took the firm off the marketplace. And so they came back with all kinds of goofy, ridiculous, pre-texual reasons why they took it off the market. In that location's something wrong there," Peckham told the Defender. Gary said it was a "slap in the face." "This is the twelvemonth 2010. Nobody should have to deal with this. They work difficult; they saved their money. Information technology's not right. Nosotros filed a $100 meg punitive lawsuit. Information technology's not about the money. This is a cause. This is a mission. They didn't want to sell it to them. To just flat out discriminate…this is a slap in the confront…this is breaking the police force," said Gary. When Willborn was asked why the neighborhood was considered since its history includes racial strife, he said it wasn't near the neighborhood, it was nearly ideal dwelling house for his family. "I wasn't looking to move into Bridgeport, I was looking to motility into a habitation. I didn't care where it was. We found the house we were looking for, it but happened to be in Bridgeport. Past no ways do I think all of Bridgeport feels the way that some have expressed," he said, vowing to see the fight until the end. "We have no intension of laying down; no intentions of letting up," he said. Afterward the disappointing blow of rejection, Peytyn Willborn said it broke her heart to explain to her nineteen-yr-old daughter and 12-yr-quondam son why they weren't moving into their dream dwelling, and, how she couldn't guarantee they wouldn't face the same racial discrimination when they were ready to purchase their ain home. "Every bit parents, when she asked us if she will take to get through the same thing, information technology was very difficult to accept to explain to her that no, yes and maybe. I really didn't have an reply for her," she told the Defender. Copyright 2010 Chicago Defender Photograph Captions: (left to right) George Willborn, Charles Peckham, Willie Gary and Peytyn Willborn accost the media afterward filing a $100 one thousand thousand bigotry suit in federal court Aug. 26 in Chicago. (Defender/Kathy Chaney) The v-bedroom, 8,000-foursquare-pes dwelling in Bridgeport the Willborn's wanted to purchase in January 2010. The deal fell through later on the owners allegedly plant out the Willborn's were Black, according to the suit. (Defender/Kathy Chaney)