Docket: Housing/Predatory Mortgage Lending/Livable Communities
Case Name: Francis v. Kings Park Manor
Court: U.S. Ct. App. 2d Cir. Docket: 15-1823
Decided: 3/4/2019
Read AARP's Amicus Brief (PDF) and Decision (PDF)
Case Result: The second circuit held that a landlord may be held liable under the Fair Housing Act and the New York State Human Rights Law for failing to take prompt action to address a hostile housing environment created by one tenant targeting another based on a protected class, like race, where the landlord knew of the harassment and had the power to correct it.
Case Name: Fair Housing Justice Center v. Cuomo
Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. NY (Southern Dist.) Docket: 18-civ-3186
Filed: 4/12/2018, Opposition brief filed 10/9/2018
Read Complaint (PDF), Press Release (PDF), and Opposition Brief (PDF)
Case Issue: Does a blanket prohibition barring users of wheelchairs from living in Adult Care Facilities regulated and funded through New York State's Department of Health violate the Fair Housing Act, the ADA, and other civil rights laws?
Case Name: Hope Fair Housing Ctr. v. Alden Gardens; H.O.P.E. v. East Gate Manor of Algonquin; H.O.P.E. v. Tabor Hills Supportive Living Cmty.
Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. ND Ill Docket: 1:15-cv-009715; 15-009717; 15-009719
Decided: 9/6/2018
Read Complaint
Case Result: The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS), Department of Human Services (DHS), the Department of Aging (DoA), and the Governor, agreed to make changes to its Supported Living Program (SLP), a Medicaid Home and Community Based Waiver Program, to ensure that no individual was denied admission to the SLP on the basis of a mental disability or diagnosis. The settlement included requirements for training of staff throughout the agencies, notification to past applicants who may have been improperly denied admission, notice to nursing homes, service providers, and disability organizations that SLPS were now an available housing service to those with mental disabilities who were otherwise qualified, three years of monitoring, and the payment of almost $900,000 in attorneys’ fees to local counsel and AARP Foundation attorneys.
Case Name: Wetzel v. Glen St. Andrew Living Community
Court: U.S. Ct. App. 7th Cir. Docket: 17-1322
Decided: 8/27/2018
Read Brief (PDF) and Opinion (PDF)
Case Result: The court held that landlords are liable under the FHA for failing to take reasonable steps within their control to prevent or correct known harassment on the basis of sexual orientation, even when the landlord did not have discriminatory intent.
Case Name: Cooper v. Senior Citizens Housing of Ann Arbor
Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. ED Mich. Docket: 18-cv-12448-MAG-MKM
Filed: 8/8/2018
Read Complaint (PDF) and Press Release (PDF)
Case Issue: Under the Fair Housing Act, can a landlord harass and threaten to evict tenants with disabilities when the landlord determines that the tenants cannot "live independently," even when the tenants are meeting all of their lease obligations?
Case Name: Aponte v. Olatoye
Court: N.Y. State Ct. App. Docket: APL-2016-00130
Decided: 2/15/2018
Read AARP Amicus Brief (PDF)
Case Result: The NY Court of Appeals ruled that it was not a violation of the Fair Housing Act to require Mr. Aponte to move out of his aging mother’s apartment when she died after he spent years caring for her and had no other home to go to. However, the court did not accept the housing authority’s broad assertion that it never had to grant a caretaker remaining household member status as a reasonable accommodation and cited AARP Foundation’s amicus in limiting its holding to the facts at hand.
Case Name: Freeman v. Rahn
Court: Md. Fed. Dist. Ct. N. Div. Docket: G15-cv-00149
Court Approved Settlement: 2/3/2017
Read Summary and Settlement
Case Result: AFL favorably settled claims that the Maryland Transit Authority paratransit eligibility and telephone reservation systems violated the ADA.
Case Name: Bank of Am. v. City of Miami; Wells Fargo Co. v. City of Miami
Court: U.S. Supreme Court Docket: 15-1111 & 15-1112 (consolidated)
Filed: 10/7/2016
Read AARP's Amicus Brief (PDF)
Case Issue: Does the term "aggrieved" in the Fair Housing Act impose a zone-of-interst requirement more stringent than the injury-in-fact requirement of Article III of the Constitution to have standing to sue; and whether the City is an "aggrieved person" under the Fair Housing Act so that it could sue lendees for predatory practices that led to foreclosures and increased costs for the City.
Case Name: American Ins. Ass'n v. U.S. Dep't of Housing and Urban Dev.
Court: U.S. Dist Ct. D.C. Docket: 13-cv-00966-RJL
Filed: 9/13/2016
Read AARP's Amicus Brief (PDF)
Case Issue: Does HUD's final rule, "Implementation of the Fair Housing Act's Discriminatory Effects Standard," violate the Fair Housing Act (FHA) because it allows plaintiffs (1) to show disparate impact only by demonstrating a statistical disparity and (2) displace challenged policy choices without showing theirs are at least as effective? Does the FHA preclude the application of the Rule to homeowner insurers specifically because (1) the Rule "pervasively injects" race into what was a previously "race-blind" process and (2) insurance law requirements break the causal chainbetween the alleged discriminatory acts and the injury claimed by plaintiffs?
Case Name: Chandler v. Wells Fargo Bank
Court: U.S. Ct. App. 9th Cir.
Decided: 3/14/2016
Read Summary
Case Result: In a disappointing ruling for surviving heirs, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a federal district court ruling that lenders are not required to honor foreclosure protections in federal regulations when those regulations are not specifically incorporated into the mortgage agreement.
Case Name: Bernard v. CitiMortgage HAMP Litigation (In re)
Court: U.S. Ct. App. 9th Cir. Docket: 13-80214
Decided: 3/2/2016
Read Summary and Amicus Brief (PDF)
Case Result: The Ninth Circuit affirmed, finding that the district court's denial of class certification was not clear error. The district court cited numerous examples of individual issues that would predominate over issues common to the class regarding whether CitiMortgage breached its Temporary Trial Period deadline and, if so, what damages were caused by the breach. Additionally, it found the Plaintiffs had failed to affirmatively allege that they met one of the prerequisities for seeking class action relief.
Case Name: O'Connor v. Eden Management
Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. ND Ill. Docket: 13cv7391
Read Summary and Complaint (PDF)
Case Issue: Is it a violation of Fair Housing Act, ADA, and Section 504 to deny housing to a person who has a history of mental illness?
Case Name: Diamond v. Superior Ct. State of Cal., County of Santa Clara
Court: Ct. App. State of Cal., 6th App. Dist. Docket: H038734
Read Summary AARP's Amicus Brief (PDF)
Case Result: A homeowner association must strictly comply with statutory notice requirements prior to initiating a judicial foreclosure based on a homeowner assessment lien.
Case Name: Mt. Holly Gardens Citizens in Action v. Twp. of Mt. Holly
Court: U.S. Ct. App. 3d Cir.
Read Summary
Case Result: Evidence in pre-trial motions established a prima faciecase of disparate impact discrimination on the basis of race and national origin under the Fair Housing Act.
Case Name: Pitts v. Greenstein
Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. MD La. Docket: 3:10-cv-00635
Read Summary and Settlement Agreement (PDF)
Case Result: Louisiana agreed to restore needed home and community-based services to enable Medicaid recipients to remain in the community.
Case Name: Twp. of Mt. Holly v. Mt. Holly Gardens Citizens in Action
Court: U.S. Supreme Court Docket: 11-1507
Read Summary
Case Issue: Are disparate impact claims cognizable under Fair Housing Act?
Case Name: Barkley v. United Homes
Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. ED N.Y. Docket: 04-cv-875-(RJD)(KAM)
Read Summary and Decisions: Denying MSJ Bayview (PDF), Post Trial Motion (PDF), Attorneys Fee Motion (PDF), Decision on Motion to Dismiss (PDF)
Case Issue: Did a real estate developer conspire with lenders, appraisers, and attorneys to target first time, minority home purchasers in the sale of homes that were cosmetically repaired and "flipped" at values far in excess of their real value?
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