The Attorney General’s Office filed a notice of voluntary dismissal upon receiving documentation that the Defendants have removed the racially restrictive covenants and filed supporting documentation with the Jackson County Recorder of Deeds.

The results were achieved as part of an effort to identify racially restrictive covenants across the state. In the first actions of this effort, the office contacted a number of homeowner associations in the Kansas City area to notify the associations that their covenants included such language and, therefore, they were not in compliance with the law. Upon notification, some complied and removed the covenants. Others did not respond after repeated attempts, including Country Club Homes and Crestwood Homes Association.  The Attorney General’s Office filed a lawsuit against the two associations on September 25, 2020. Subsequent to the lawsuit, Crestwood Homes Association complied on September 29 and Country Club Homes complied on November 19.

“There should be no place whatsoever in our society for racially restrictive covenants, so I am very pleased we were able to achieve this resolution,” said Attorney General Schmitt. “My office will continue the fight to identify and remove such restrictions in neighborhoods across the state and encourage Missourians to contact our office if you are aware of similar community restrictions.”

An example of the language that has been removed is: Country Club Homes Association Plats 5-6 maintained a racially restrictive provision in its covenant that read, “None of said lots during aforesaid period shall be conveyed to, owned, used nor occupied by negroes as owners or tenants.”

The Notice of Voluntary Dismissal was filed this morning in Jackson County.

A link to the Notices can be found here and here.