WinnCompanies Lawsuits: RealPage, Discrimination, Fair Housing

WinnCompanies lawsuits span several fronts: the Boston-based affordable housing manager is a defendant in the federal RealPage rent-pricing antitrust class action, has been sued by a former Black female executive for discrimination, is defending a Massachusetts Attorney General fair housing case over disability accommodations at a Dorchester development, resolved a HUD complaint in California involving rules aimed at families with children, and has faced individual tenant suits over habitability and access.

RealPage Antitrust Class Action

WinnCompanies LLC and Winn Residential Manager Corp. are among more than 50 property management defendants in In re RealPage Inc. Rental Software Antitrust Litigation (No. II), a multidistrict class action before Chief Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr. in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.¹ Renters allege that RealPage’s AI-driven “revenue management” software let landlords share proprietary rent and occupancy data, coordinate pricing, and restrict available supply, pushing rents above competitive levels.²

Winn joined a group of “LRO Defendants” that tried to get out early. LRO was a revenue tool developed by the Rainmaker Group and later acquired by RealPage. The LRO group argued that, unlike RealPage’s YieldStar product, LRO used only publicly available data, so the conspiracy theory shouldn’t reach them.³

Judge Crenshaw rejected that argument on December 28, 2023. The court found plaintiffs plausibly alleged that RealPage’s “enhanced” version of LRO began pulling in private data after the acquisition and that by 2020 YieldStar and LRO had been integrated into a single unified database mixing public and non-public information. Several LRO Defendants were also alleged to have used YieldStar or another RealPage product alongside LRO. The motion to dismiss was denied.³

Settlement Status

On November 21, 2025, the court granted preliminary approval to 26 settlements involving 27 named defendants, totaling $141.8 million plus cooperation and injunctive terms.¹ The class covers renters who paid rent to participating landlords between October 18, 2018, and November 21, 2025.⁴ Claims aren’t open yet; the court still needs to approve a notice plan and a distribution plan.

Court records available do not spell out which 27 defendants settled and which are still in the case. Both WinnCompanies LLC and Winn Residential Manager Corp. appear on the settlement site’s list of 50 companies whose renters may be eligible, but the site doesn’t distinguish settling from non-settling parties.⁴ Discovery continues against the defendants that remain, with no trial date set.

The separate U.S. Department of Justice case against RealPage, filed in North Carolina in August 2024 with eight state attorneys general and eight landlord co-defendants, does not name WinnCompanies as a defendant or co-conspirator.⁵

What Winn Says It Used

In September 2024, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey and Representative Seth Moulton wrote to 13 Massachusetts landlords, including WinnResidential, demanding information about their use of RealPage tools and calling the software an “illegal price-fixing scheme.”⁶ WinnResidential replied that it had “never used the YieldStar or AIRM software products,” had not used any RealPage software for revenue management for a year, and had never applied such tools to its low-income, affordable, or workforce housing units.⁷

Mendes Employment Discrimination Suit

In 2023, former Regional Vice President Genesa Mendes sued WinnCompanies LLC and her former supervisor, John Kuppens, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Mendes, who is Black and female, alleged sex and race discrimination, retaliation, failure to accommodate a disability, FMLA interference, federal and Massachusetts equal pay violations, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.⁸

She alleged that a relocation to North Carolina came with a $14,000 annual pay cut not imposed on white male colleagues, that her supervisor treated dark-skinned employees less favorably, and that she was required to work while on approved medical leave for depression, anxiety, and PTSD.⁹

On December 14, 2023, Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV ruled on the defendants’ partial motion to dismiss. He dismissed the emotional distress claim as barred by the Massachusetts Workers’ Compensation Act and threw out the state-law sex, race, and retaliation claims as time-barred, finding Mendes was aware of the alleged discrimination by August 2020 but did not file with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination until March 2022. Mendes voluntarily withdrew her federal retaliation claim.⁸ The court allowed the disability accommodation claim to move forward, along with the FMLA interference and Equal Pay Act claims.¹⁰

Massachusetts AG’s Olmsted Green Fair Housing Case

On October 4, 2023, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell sued Winn Residential Corporation and Olmsted Green Rental III, LLC in Suffolk County Superior Court, alleging disability-based discrimination at the Olmsted Green development in Dorchester.¹¹

The complaint alleges the defendants repeatedly failed to make simple accommodations for disabled tenants’ maintenance needs starting in at least 2020. One resident with cardiovascular disease asked maintenance staff to wear masks and gloves; the AG says compliance did not arrive until 2023. Another resident asked for advance notice before maintenance work so her child with autism could be prepared, and staff allegedly showed up unannounced anyway.¹² Both matters originated from Boston Fair Housing Commission investigations that found probable cause.

The AG is seeking a compliance order under the fair housing and consumer protection laws, plus civil penalties and damages. A Winn Residential spokesperson said the events were “isolated incidents” that did not reflect any intent to discriminate and that the company would “make our case in court.”¹²

HUD Conciliation in California

In September 2021, HUD brokered a conciliation agreement involving WinnResidential California L.P. and the operator of Mustang Peak Village in Newman, California. Complainants, including the fair housing organization Project Sentinel, alleged the property had adopted rules targeting children’s access to common areas and had harassed families with children in violation of the Fair Housing Act.¹³ Under the agreement, the respondents paid $29,000 to complainants, revised property rules for children, and required employees to complete at least three hours of fair housing training. The respondents denied discriminating against anyone.

Individual Tenant Suits

Paul Laurence Dunbar Apartments (Washington, D.C.)

In August 2023, elderly tenant Glenda Richmond sued WinnCompanies in D.C. Superior Court over conditions at the Paul Laurence Dunbar Apartments in Northwest Washington. She alleged the company failed to give proper advance notice for inspections and floor replacement work and failed to arrange adequate relocation support for elderly residents during repairs.¹⁴ At a September 5, 2023, hearing, Magistrate Judge Rahkel Bouchet raised questions about service and arranged for a D.C. Department of Buildings inspection. Tenants at the property had reported rodent infestations, water damage, and failing appliances; a 2018 HUD review gave the property a below-average management score, though HUD reported satisfactory scores from 2019 through 2023.

Noelus v. Winn Companies

On April 30, 2026, Edwin Noelus filed a Fair Housing Act complaint against Winn Companies, Winn Management, and an individual named Sayra Alemany in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The case, before Judge Julia E. Kobick, is in its earliest stages: as of mid-2026 only an initial complaint and a motion to proceed without paying court fees appear on the docket.¹⁵

Eviction Scrutiny and the Housing Stability Program

In 2018, a task force commissioned by then-Boston Mayor Marty Walsh identified affordable housing operators, including WinnCompanies, as significant drivers of evictions in the city.¹⁶

The company launched what it calls the Housing Stability Program in early 2020, with a stated goal of cutting financial evictions across its portfolio by 50 percent over five years. Staff are trained to recalculate subsidized tenants’ rent when income changes, connect delinquent households with rental assistance, and offer payment plans of up to nine months.¹⁶ The company reported that between March 2020 and July 2023 more than 55,000 households participated, over 121,000 residents avoided eviction for nonpayment, and it accessed more than $55 million in emergency rental assistance on behalf of tenants.

In Massachusetts, the program includes a procedural step: when eviction filings are necessary, Winn picks the latest possible filing date after a constable serves notice, creating a two-to-three-week buffer for last-minute negotiation before the case enters the court system and becomes a permanent public record.¹⁷ The program does not apply to lease violations involving criminal behavior, violence, or endangerment of other residents.¹⁸

1
Hausfeld. RealPage Federal Antitrust Class Action
2
U.S. District Court, Middle District of Tennessee. MDL 3071 Case Information
3
U.S. District Court, Middle District of Tennessee. Memorandum Opinion, Doc. No. 687
4
RealPage Rental Settlement. In Re Realpage, Inc. Rental Software Antitrust Litigation
5
Federal Register. United States of America et al. v. RealPage, Inc. et al. – Proposed Final Judgment and Competitive Impact
6
Office of Senator Edward J. Markey. Markey, Warren, Moulton Demand Answers From Corporate Landlords in Massachusetts Allegedly Using Rent-Hiking Algorithm
7
GovTech. Lawmakers Probe Mass. Landlords’ Use of Rent-Setting Software
8
GovInfo. Mendes v. WinnCompanies LLC, Civil Action No. 23-10417-FDS
9
CaseMine. Mendes v. WinnCompanies LLC
10
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. Employment Limitations – Continuing Violation Doctrine
11
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. AG’s Office Files Lawsuit Over Claims of Disability-Based Discrimination at Olmstead Green in Dorchester
12
Dorchester Reporter. Campbell Alleges Bias Against Disabled at Olmsted Green, Winn
13
HUD Archives. WinnResidential California Conciliation Agreement
14
Washington Informer. Elderly Tenant Pursues Civil Suit Against Property Manager
15
PACER Monitor. Noelus v. Winn Companies et al
16
American Bar Association. Lessons Learned – Landlord Housing Stability Program
17
CORES Online. Winn Housing Stability Program
18
WinnCompanies. More Than 15,000 Households Avoided Eviction Through National Housing Stability Program Implemented by WinnCompanies