COEUR d'ALENE - A federal jury awarded $21,000 in damages to a Boise-based nonprofit that sued the owner of a Post Falls apartment complex where prospective tenants were informed a damage deposit was required for service animals.

The Intermountain Fair Housing Council sued CVE Falls Park LLC, owner of Falls Park Apartments at 304 W. Fourth Ave., in U.S. District Court, filing a complaint in July 2010.

In count one, it cited discrimination on the basis of "handicap" in violation of the federal Fair Housing Act and its implementing regulations. In count two, Intermountain cited negligence by Falls Park for failing to adequately train and supervise its property managers on the requirements of the Fair Housing Act.

The case went to trial on Monday of last week, and the eight-person jury began deliberating on Wednesday. The jury returned with a decision Thursday, finding in Intermountain's favor on both counts.

Ken Nagy, an attorney representing Intermountain, said the decision "strengthens protections for disabled tenants. It's a very important case nationwide."

He said the jury awarded roughly $14,000 for the Fair Housing Act claim and $7,250 for negligence.

Intermountain was awarded the money for "frustration of its mission," and "diversion of its resources in handling" the lawsuit, Nagy said.

The owner of Falls Park, Charles V. Eckert III, an attorney in Goleta, Calif., said Intermountain wasn't "trying to put an end to a practice that was wrong. They wanted the money, because I'd already put an end to it a year before they filed the lawsuit."

He said he didn't understand the "vague elements" used to calculate the damages.

"It seems to me the numbers were just made up by the plaintiff," Eckert said.

He said no person with a disability has ever paid a deposit for a service animal at Falls Park, the only apartment complex he owns in Idaho. He said nobody suffered any real injury in this case.

Intermountain alleged in its complaint that property managers at Falls Park had told a disabled woman in November 2008 that she would need to pay a deposit for her service animal, a dog. A couple days later one of the managers contacted the woman and told her that her application to rent an apartment there had been denied, according to court documents. (Eckert said the woman was denied because of a "horrible rental history.")

The woman filed a complaint of housing discrimination with Intermountain, which followed with an investigation.

Part of that investigation included two telephone calls from "testers," people who contacted the property managers and pretended to be interested in renting an apartment. The testers, who also pretended to have service animals prescribed by a doctor, wanted to confirm Falls Park was requiring tenants to pay deposits for them.

They were told they would have to pay damage deposits of $1,000, which included $100 that would be non-refundable.

Eckert said Intermountain tried to trip his property managers up with the testers. He called it a "gotcha" scheme.

He said the testers pretended to have service animals, but, "They don't go to the next step and say, 'Will you wave the deposit, because it's a service animal?' They didn't do that."

Following the tests and the investigation, Intermountain filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. So did the woman who was denied an apartment.

The complaints with HUD were withdrawn when settlements couldn't be reached. The lawsuit followed.

Nagy said the money awarded by the jury would be spent on public education efforts.