OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – A lawsuit filed this week in federal court alleges Good Samaritan Village discriminated against and took advantage of a resident after Hurricane Ian, coercing the woman — in fresh distress over the sight of her destroyed belongings — into hastily signing away her housing rights with paperwork not in her native language.
Yolanda Delgado, 77, is the sole plaintiff in the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Orlando against The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society, Good Samaritan Society — Kissimmee Village and Sanford Health.
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According to the lawsuit, Delgado evacuated Good Samaritan Village in late September 2022, ahead of Ian’s flooding throughout Central Florida, some days ahead of a mandatory evacuation of the area as declared by Osceola County. She claims she did not return to her home until around Oct. 15, after she had learned through the news that Good Samaritan Village was allowing residents to re-enter their homes.
The door to Delgado’s unit had a message on it — “Air MD No Access” — that she claims Good Samaritan Village never explained to her. Upon opening her door, Delgado found that her belongings, furniture and personal effects were damaged beyond repair, which left her “emotionally distraught and in a state of extreme emotional distress,” the lawsuit states.
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That same day, Delgado said her daughter was approached by an unknown woman who advised they visit a community common area. That’s where Delgado said she sat down with an agent for Good Samaritan Village who allegedly spoke to her in English despite Delgado being a Puerto Rico-born Spanish speaker with limited English proficiency. That’s even though, as the lawsuit states, the community claims to provide “[f]ree language services to people whose primary language is not English, such as qualified interpreters.”
The woman allegedly told Delgado in English that she was required to sign paperwork in order to get her security deposit back, money that Delgado was entitled to either way per state statutes, according to the lawsuit.
Delgado was told that she would be required to empty the unit by Oct. 31, just over two weeks away at the time, which allegedly added to her distress. In the document she was given to sign — “Termination of Occupancy Agreement and Abandonment of Personal Property Agreement,” which had been photocopied to both sides of one sheet of paper — the removal of property was ordered to be done at Delgado’s “sole cost and expense.”
The document contained “an unconscionably broad and sweeping release in which only the resident agrees to release [Good Samaritan Village] and its agents” from the following, according to the statement:
[A]ll claims, all manner of action and actions, cause and causes of action, type of action, suit, debts, obligations, accounts, attorney’s fees, costs, interest, dues, sums of money, accounts, covenants, contracts, controversies, agreements, promises, damages or claims and demands whatsoever, in law or in equity ... from the beginning of the world to the date of this Agreement...
Case 6:23-cv-01288 (excerpt)
Delgado was not given an accompanying translation of the termination agreement, she was not given sufficient time to review it before signing and she was coerced into giving that signature, the lawsuit stated. Lacking a translator, when Delgado asked what would happen if she didn’t sign the agreement, she was allegedly informed she would receive her security deposit months later at an undetermined date.
Additionally, though a witness signature is contained within the termination agreement, there was no third party present when Delgado signed it, according to the lawsuit.
[Good Samaritan Village’s] coercion and intimidation interfered with [Delgado’s] enjoyment and exercise of her housing rights by discriminating against her on the basis of her national origin to force an involuntarily surrender of her housing rights, limit her ability to exercise future housing rights, and unlawfully eliminate her ability to bring future claims against [Good Samaritan Village.]
Case 6:23-cv-01288 (excerpt)
The lawsuit seeks relief in forms of punitive and compensatory damages to Delgado; that the court declares the Good Samaritan Village’s actions exploitative of Delgado as a vulnerable adult and in violation of the Fair Housing Act and 1968 Civil Rights Act; that Good Samaritan Village is permanently enjoined from discriminating on the basis of national origin and take appropriate action to ensure activities complained of are not repeated; and that the termination agreement be declared void ab initio.
The lawsuit follows another post-hurricane complaint filed in March by Maureen Kotch and Lucille Bishop, who seek around $50,000 in damages, alleging Good Samaritan Village never warned them of the flood risk when they both moved in.
Read the lawsuit below.
Good Samaritan Lawsuit by Brandon Hogan on Scribd
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