DENVER – Today, an Arapahoe County District Court judge issued a preliminary injunction in an ACLU of Colorado case against Aurora landlords Avi Schwalb, Nancy Dominguez, and PHS Rent LLC. The injunction prohibits the landlords from threatening, intimidating, and harassing tenants Doe and Roe on the basis of their perceived immigration and citizenship status for the lifetime of the litigation.
“This is welcome news for our clients. No family deserves to be harassed and threatened because of their immigration status,” said ACLU of Colorado Legal Director Tim Macdonald. “This case will not only impact their lives, but every tenant and every immigrant in the state. We’ll keep fighting for all of them.”
The lawsuit, filed on January 28, 2025, alleges that the landlords repeatedly violated tenant protections in Colorado, including by denigrating the family’s country of origin, threatening to call immigration authorities, and even changing the apartment door locks without notice or legal proceedings in an attempt to get the family to vacate their home.
In issuing the preliminary injunction, the court found the Plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their claim that the landlords’ past and threatened conduct violate Colorado's Immigrant Tenant Protection Act. That law protects the rights of tenants who are made vulnerable by their perceived immigration or citizenship status. It forbids landlords from, among other things, requesting information about a tenant’s immigration or citizenship status and disclosing or threatening to disclose such information to anyone, including immigration or law enforcement. It also forbids intimidating, harassing, or retaliating against a tenant for asserting their rights.
In addition to Macdonald, the legal team includes ACLU of Colorado Senior Staff Attorneys Annie Kurtz and Emma Mclean-Riggs. Cooperating counsel on the case include Alec P. Harris and Alexandra K. Lewis of Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP.
