Racist Swim Club Hit With Lawsuit By U.S. Justice Department

The U.S. Justice Department just slapped that shady a*s Philly swim club with a lawsuit for turning away dozens of 6 black and Latino campers this summer. They’re a little late, since the club is broke, bankrupt and going out of business, but if they weren’t a wrap before — they definitely are now. Pop the hood for details:

The U.S. Justice Department accused a Huntingdon Valley swim club of racism in a federal lawsuit filed yesterday as the club deals with ongoing bankruptcy proceedings.

The Valley Club, which revoked its contract with the Creative Steps day camp after 56 black and Latino children visited June 29, is charged in the suit with making a no-summer-campers rule the next day “in response to racially motivated opposition from Valley Club members . . . with the intention of preventing the children of Creative Steps from returning.”

The Justice Department said in a news release that the lawsuit was intended to force the club to drop the discriminatory policy.

“Denying African American children entry to a swimming pool because of the color of their skin is a deplorable violation of this nation’s civil rights laws,” Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez said in a statement.

“It is illegal and inexcusable to discriminate against patrons by barring them from a place of public accommodation on the basis of race or color.”

It is doubtful that the club, which shut down at the end of the summer swimming season, will ever open again. Club president John G. Duesler Jr., who did not return a call, spent yesterday afternoon listening to creditors make their demands in a hearing over its Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing, submitted in November.

The club’s bankruptcy attorney, Michael Cibik, said yesterday that selling off the club’s assets – mainly the swimming pool, buildings, and land on Tomlinson Road just beyond the city line – was going slowly.

“There has been a lukewarm response,” Cibik said.

In its bankruptcy filing, the club claimed it had more than $266,000 in debts and estimated its 2009 gross income at $90,640. Its assets were valued at $2 million, mainly real estate value.

The Justice Department’s discrimination suit does not directly request a cash penalty, just a court order to stop any discriminatory policies. Cibik said the club site was likely to be sold to a developer, which would make any policy change moot.

“We have no intention of reopening,” Cibik said. “Never. No. We’re done.”

The Valley Club also faces several potential financial burdens of unknown size. One group of children has filed a discrimination lawsuit, and lawyers for another group said they also planned to sue. The state Human Relations Commission is considering a fine and other penalties against the club.

That’s what they get!!! Racist a*s mofos!!! We just hope they’re not able to worm their way out of paying up for their shady a*s ways!!!

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