The court in São Paulo has given a 90-day deadline for retired Elisabeth Morrone and her son to leave the condominium where they live in Barra Funda, west zone of the capital. The mother and son were involved in a racism episode against the comedian and musician Eddy Junior, a former resident of the area.
The ruling was issued on Monday, the 15th, by Judge Laura de Mattos Almeida from the 29th Civil Court. The judge took into consideration the “antisocial behavior” displayed by the retiree and her son. Their defense stated that they will appeal to maintain their residence in the condominium and labeled the court’s decision as “monstrous”.
The lawsuit was brought by the administration of the United Home & Work Condominium after verbal aggressions against the comedian surfaced. In October 2022, Eddy reported on social media that the woman and her son refused to share an elevator with him, and she insulted him with racist slurs like “monkey, filthy, ugly, vulture, and dangerous little Black boy”. The judge understood that the inability to coexist harmoniously in the condominium allows the residents to adopt measures to restrict property rights.
In a condominium meeting in November 2022, the residents had already voted by majority to exclude the retiree and her son. “In this case, the restriction on enjoying the property to prevent residency is indeed a suitable and necessary measure for the restoration of order in the condominium, and the imposition of a limitation on property rights due to the serious behaviors exhibited by the homeowner is not unreasonable, showing the correctness of the other residents’ decision,” wrote the judge.
If the sentence is not revised on appeal, with the expulsion, Elisabeth is prohibited from returning to reside in the location, but she retains ownership rights to the apartment, being able to sell, exchange, or rent the unit. The homeowner had already been fined twice, totaling R$6.9 thousand, due to the turmoil resulting from the insults towards the musician. She also sued the condominium, seeking the annulment of the fines and a compensation of R$50 thousand for moral damages due to the incident. However, the court dismissed the requests.
In July 2023, the court accepted the charges against Elisabeth and her son for threatening the comedian. The woman also faces charges of racial slur for using terms like “monkey” towards the artist. After the incident, the comedian Eddy Junior moved out of the condominium. The report contacted the artist and is awaiting a response.
The lawyer José Beraldo, who represents Elisabeth Morrone and her son, will appeal for them to be allowed to remain in the condominium. “The decision is almost monstrous. Expelling a mother who cares for a sick child with a serious illness is absurd. The right to housing is a fundamental right,” he said. According to him, the woman is an elderly lady who struggles alone to care for her son, who has been undergoing mental treatments for over ten years.
The son receives supervision from the Psychosocial Care Center (Caps). “Elizabeth has legal guardianship of her son duly legalized. That is, he is an imputable person who had no consciousness of what he was doing at that moment, an issue