Update April 21, 2016: A Polk County judge has granted summary judgment to Valley West Mall after plaintiff Seville Lee failed to contest the mall’s motion. Lee’s lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled.
Original article:
The interim management firm operating West Des Moines’ struggling Valley West Mall is facing a second lawsuit by a tenant accusing it of racial discrimination.
The mall has been in foreclosure and operating under the direction of a court-appointed receiver since 2022. It is expected to be offered for sale and redevelopment sometime this year, according to city officials.
In the interim, the receiver has appointed New York-based Spinoso Real Estate Group to operate the mall.
The new lawsuit, filed in December, follows another last January by Suruosh Alehy, the Iranian-born owner of a discount shop at the mall. In the most recent complaint, Plaintiff Seville Lee, the Black owner of a screen-printing store, similarly accuses Spinoso of racial discrimination and retaliation.
Lee alleges in his complaint that in December 2022, mall management opened mail from a client addressed to his shop, 84 Fresh, and took and cashed a check for several thousand dollars. This “intentional act of fraud” led to conflict with the client and the eventual withdrawal of their business and that of other customers due to the apparently lost payment, Lee states.
“Defendants knowingly and wrongfully seized Plaintiffs’ property and payments based on the invidious belief that Plaintiff Lee, as a black man, was 1) inherently unreliable as a business partner and would fail to pay his rent timely and other stereotypic beliefs, 2) because of the equally invidious perception that black owned businesses are inherently less likely to succeed and/or could be bullied due to this vulnerability, and 3) to place Plaintiffs in a weaker position as a tenant,” Lee alleges in his complaint.
Spinoso eventually returned the misappropriated money, without interest, but also engaged in other discriminatory conduct, the suit claims. That included demanding Lee accept new lease restrictions and follow rules not imposed on white-owned businesses, and harassing him and his customers with mall security.
Lee filed a complaint with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission in October 2023, after which, he says, Spinoso retaliated by terminating his lease. He accuses Spinoso of discrimination, retaliation, fraud, civil theft and contract interference.
Attorney Clinton Luth, who is representing both Lee and Alehy against Spinoso, did not respond to a message seeking comment. An attorney for Spinoso did not have any comment.
What about the first lawsuit against Valley West Mall?
In his lawsuit, Alehy, proprietor of Five Star Discount, alleges management refused to let him expand into vacant storefronts but allowed white tenants to use them, refused to fix serious building maintenance issues and, when he complained, retaliated by denying him coverage by security guards. He alleged he was told the mall did not want more of the “sort of people” who patronized his store, which he took to refer to racial and ethnic minorities.
Alehy initially also sued the mall’s receiver, Krista Freitag, who was appointed to oversee the property as part of the foreclosure proceeding. A judge held that she could not be held liable under Iowa law, but the lawsuit is proceeding against Spinoso. Court records show a judge recently declined to dismiss the case and it remains pending, with no trial date set.
William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com or 715-573-8166.
This story was updated to add a video.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Second tenant sues Valley West Mall interim management for racial discrimination
Reporting by William Morris, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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