Hank testified there would have been no application fee if Puryear had rented the Apartment. Puryear's testimony as to her emotional distress damages was brief. She testified that she was upset for a period of two or three weeks after she learned that Hank refused to rent the Apartment to her. As a result of the discrimination, she did not look for another apartment because she feared that another landlord would not rent to her because of her race. Nevertheless, she was able to move into a new apartment by October 1, 1998.
Some emotional distress flows when discrimination has been proven by the complainant's testimony.
Here, Complainant proved that she suffered from some distress. The discriminatory conduct was not so egregious that one would expect it to cause severe emotional distress. Here, Puryear's emotional distress testimony was general and conclusory. The discriminatory conduct took place over a brief period of time and was not severe. In this case, Puryear's testimony as to her emotional distress damages was even more general and brief than in Huff.