Families Awarded $750K After Campground Owner's Racial Discrimination

Two families were awarded a total of $750,000 after a jury ruled that Regina Turner, the owner of Lazy Cove Campground in Virginia, discriminated against them based on race.

The families, friends Amanda Mills and Angela Smith, had planned a joint camping trip to the campground in June 2020. The group included Smith's husband, Damien Smith, who is Black, and their 8-year-old son. Their plans took a turn when Turner called Mills and expressed her disapproval of Damien Smith's presence at the campground.

Discriminatory Actions

According to a complaint filed with the Virginia Fair Housing Board and reported by The Washington Post, Turner stated to Mills, "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." Furthermore, court documents allege that Turner made discriminatory remarks to another tenant on the campground, expressing her desire to wait until their lease ended before evicting them. She reportedly said, "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."

Legal Action and Verdict

The Virginia Attorney General's Office and the Virginia Fair Housing Board filed a civil suit against Turner on one count of refusing to rent and two counts of discrimination. The lawsuit led to both families being awarded $100,000 each for their losses. Additionally, the jury awarded an extra $550,000 in punitive damages, as announced in a news release by Attorney General Jason Miyares on Thursday.

"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,” Damien 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.” Attorney General Miyares expressed satisfaction with the jury's verdict, stating, "The people of Franklin County have spoken: Smith Mountain Lake is for everyone." The $750,000 verdict surpasses the state’s previous largest fair housing victory by more than three times.