§ 16-123-332 - Administrative penalties. - Arkansas Statutes

16-123-332. Administrative penalties.

(a) If the Arkansas Fair Housing Commission determines at a hearing under 16-123-331 that a respondent has engaged in or is about to engage in a discriminatory housing practice, the commission may order the appropriate relief, including actual damages, reasonable attorney's fees, and court costs.

(b) To vindicate the public interest, the commission may assess a civil penalty against the respondent in an amount that does not exceed:

(1) Eleven thousand dollars ($11,000) if the respondent has not been adjudged by order of the commission or a court to have committed a prior discriminatory housing practice;

(2) Except as provided by subsection (c) of this section, twenty-seven thousand five hundred dollars ($27,500) if the respondent has been adjudged by order of the commission or a court to have committed one (1) other discriminatory housing practice during the five-year period ending on the date of the filing of this charge; and

(3) Except as provided by subsection (c) of this section, fifty-five thousand dollars ($55,000) if the respondent has been adjudged by order of the commission or a court to have committed three (3) or more discriminatory housing practices during the five-year period ending on the date of the filing of the charge.

(c) If the acts constituting the discriminatory housing practice that is the object of the charge are committed by the same natural person who has been previously adjudged to have committed acts constituting a discriminatory housing practice, the civil penalties in subdivisions (b)(2) and (3) of this section may be imposed without regard to the period of time within which any other discriminatory housing practice occurred.

(d) In addition to all other penalties set forth in this subchapter, the commission may require the respondent to complete up to thirty (30) classroom hours of fair housing education courses designated by the commission or up to thirty (30) hours of community service designated by the commission, or both.