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Article Courtesy of The Palm
Beach Post
By
Mike Diamond
Published March 21, 2023
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A Seven Bridges homeowner who alleged she was victimized by discriminatory
behavior in the community west of Delray Beach will receive $1 million as part
of a settlement that took place just before a lengthy trial was scheduled to
begin in West Palm Beach on Monday.
The settlement amount was first reported by BocaNewsNow.Com.
The federal lawsuit sought $7 million from the HOA for alleged violations of the
Fair Housing Act. It claimed the HOA failed to address the wrongful conduct
targeted against the homeowner, Debra LaGrasso, because she was not Jewish.
Seven Bridges is a predominantly Jewish community.
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The lawsuit also sought to “de-annex” the LaGrasso home from the Seven Bridges
development. That will not happen.
Scott Weires, the lawyer representing LaGrasso, called the settlement “a
complete vindication” for LaGrasso. “They (Seven Bridges) rolled over and
caved,” Weires said.
HOA lawyers G. Jeffrey Vernis and Josef M. Fiala said the HOA made a business
decision to resolve the case. He noted there was no admission of any fault by
the association or its board of directors.
Seven Bridges is a high-end family development located west of Delray Beach on
Lyons Road between Clint Moore Road and Atlantic Avenue. It consists of 701
homes. Homes routinely sell for more than $2 million.
The settlement agreement does not disclose the agreement but lawyers for both
sides confirmed that the settlement amount was $1 million. LaGrasso and the HOA
will pay their own legal fees. Weires said LaGrasso, nonetheless, will still
walk away with several hundred thousand dollars.
Whoever lost at trial might have had to pay the prevailing
party's legal fees, which are estimated to run into hundreds
of thousands of dollars.
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Deborah LaGrasso and her husband Joe will receive $1
million following the settlement of their lawsuit against the HOA of
Seven Bridges that alleged the HOA did not adequately control
religious discrimination against them because they were Italian
living in a predominantly Jewish community west of Delray Beach.
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The settlement was arrived at Sunday afternoon, too late to notify potential
jurors that their services would not be needed. U.S. Magistrate Judge William
Matthewman ordered “the parties” to pay the costs of summoning the prospective
jurors. They will have to split the cost — $2,769.90.
In August 2021, U.S. District Court Judge Donald Middlebrooks dismissed the
lawsuit but reversed himself after Weires provided him with additional legal
arguments. At issue was whether the HOA failed to halt what the lawsuit said led
to a hostile housing environment for LaGrasso and her family. Some of the issues
involved LaGrasso allegedly:
Also at issue was the tense relationship between LaGrasso, a Christian, and
Rachel Tannenholz, who is Jewish. They became involved in a heated dispute over
an anonymous Facebook page that LaGrasso created two years ago. LaGrasso's posts
criticized the clubhouse restaurant, claiming that pest feces and insects were
in the food. Board members were criticized, and they found the comments to be
antisemitic.
The HOA imposed a $5,000 fine on LaGrasso and suspended her for 330 days from
using the pool, clubhouse, tennis courts and other amenities. It was the
harshest penalty ever imposed at Seven Bridges.
Tannenholz allegedly responded to one of LaGrasso's posts by saying that if she
was so unhappy, LaGrasso should move to “a Klan neighborhood . . . a white
supremacist area.”
LaGrasso called Tannenholz on her Facebook site the "Seven Bridges community
stripper,” adding, “OH MY those platform shoes are horrendous … (it) must be so
hard to type and dance on the pol."
Once Tannenholz learned that the anonymous Facebook page was administered by
LaGrasso, she went to LaGrasso’s home to have her take down the “humiliating
post,” according to court documents.
She rang the doorbell repeatedly, banged on the front door, and yelled for
LaGrasso to come outside. LaGrasso allegedly threatened to shoot Tannenholz if
she did not leave. Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputies threatened to file a
trespassing complaint against Tannenholz if she came back to the property.
The lawsuit questioned why the HOA took such strong action against LaGrasso and
failed to discipline Tannenholz at the same time.!!! [sic]"
That post resulted in Tannenholz suing LaGrasso in state court for defamation.
The case is pending. It was not part of the federal lawsuit that was settled.
A 2019 incident on the community tennis courts sparked the animosity
LaGrasso already had a strained relationship with the Seven Bridges community
following an incident in December 2019 on the tennis courts concerning her
daughters’ use of the courts for lessons. LaGrasso claimed that some female
players harassed her daughters because they wanted the courts for league play.
The HOA accused LaGrasso of assaulting some of the women. LaGrasso claimed she
was the one assaulted but the HOA sided with her accusers. LaGrasso was barred
from using any of the amenities for 90 days. The incident occurred several
months before the Tannenholz confrontation.
Initially, the tennis court incident was part of the federal lawsuit but HOA
lawyers successfully argued that it should be removed because there was no
evidence that what occurred had anything to do with religious discrimination.
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