MILWAUKEE - An owner of some West Allis apartment buildings will pay $110,000 on claims that property managers discriminated against black apartment hunters, telling them units were not available when they were, under a settlement reached in the case. The agreement resolves a 2005 federal lawsuit brought by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council and three black testers against the owner and managers of two apartment buildings. The buildings' owner, James J. Krahn, owns a total if 13 properties in West Allis, city assessor Charles Ruud said. Krahn did not admit wrongdoing, according to the settlement. A spokeswoman for Krukowski & Costello, the law firm representing Krahn, claimed in a prepared statement that the housing council has sent hundreds of testers over many years to Krahn's properties "with elaborate cover stories and tape recorders." "Despite this process, they ultimately filed a complaint involving less than a handful of people," the statement said. "Much of the Fair Housing Council's complaint was actually dismissed by the court prior to settlement and a portion of the settlement was paid by an insurance carrier." But William Tisdale, the council's president and chief executive officer, denied sending hundreds of testers to Krahn's properties, calling that allegation outlandish. The council sent a small group of testers to the complexes over a four-month period, Tisdale said. Kathy Charlton, an attorney who represented the council, said a minor claim based on a narrow section of law was dismissed, but that the "heart and crux of the complaint" was based on the Federal Fair Housing Act. The settlement will be divided among the Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council, the three testers and their attorneys, Tisdale said. Terms of the settlement also call for Krahn to pay for a fair housing seminar for other property owners and managers in West Allis and to pay to train his own managers in fair housing practices for the next three years. (Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)