Docket: Housing/Predatory Mortgage Lending/Livable Communities
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: Fair Housing Justice Center v. Cuomo
Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. NY (Southern Dist.) Docket: 18-civ-3186
Filed: 4/12/2018
Read Complaint (PDF) and Press Release (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: Aponte v. Olatoye
Court: N.Y. State Ct. App. Docket: APL-2016-00130
Filed: 12/18/2017
Read AARP Amicus Brief (PDF)
Case Issue: 1. Did the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) violate the FHA and other civil rights laws by denying an 82 year old tenant with Alzheimer’s request to accommodate her disability by allowing her adult son to move in to her apartment permanently to care for her?
2. Was it arbitrary and capricious and an error of law for NYCHA to have denied the request for reasonable accommodation and substituted another accommodation without investigating those needs or engaging in an interactive process with the tenant?
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
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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: Hope Fair Housing Ctr. v. Alden Gardens
Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. ND Ill Docket: 1:15-cv-009715
Filed: 10/30/2015
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Case Issue: Is it a violation of the Fair Housing Act, ADA, and Section 504 to deny housing to a person who has a history of mental illness?
Case Name: Hope Fair Housing Ctr. v. East Gate Manor of Algonquin
Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. ND Ill Docket: 1:15-cv-009717
Filed: 10/30/2015
Read Complaint
Case Issue: Is it a violation of the Fair Housing Act, ADA, and Section 504 to deny housing to a person who has a history of mental illness?
Case Name: Hope Fair Housing Ctr. v. Tabor Hills Supportive Living Cmty.
Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. ND Ill Docket: 1:15-cv-009719
Filed: 10/30/2015
Read Complaint
Case Issue: Is it a violation of the Fair Housing Act, ADA, and Section 504 to deny housing to a person who has a history of mental illness?
Case Name: Francis v. Kings Park Manor
Court: U.S. Ct. App. 2d Cir. Docket: 15-1823
Filed: 9/22/2015
Read AARP's Amicus Brief (PDF)
Case Issue: Are landlords liable for unlawful discrimination under the Fair Housing Act (FHA) when they fail to take reasonable action after a tenant brings complaints of harassment or a continuing pattern of racially discriminatory conduct by another tenant? Under the FHA, are plaintiffs required to show that the defendant acted with discriminatory intent in these circumstances?
Case Name: Bennett v. HUD
Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. D.C. Docket: 1:14-CV-326(ESH)
Case Issue: Is HUD's determination on remand that surviving spouses of reverse mortgage borrowers are entitled to no relief arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion or otherwise illegal?
Case Name: Huntington Continental Townhouse Ass'n v. The JM Trust
Court: Cal. Ct. App., 4th App. Dist. Docket: G049624
Read Summary and AARP's Amicus Brief (PDF)
Case Issue: Does state law require homeowner associations to accept partial payments from delinquent homeowners?
Case Name: Plunkett v. HUD
Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. D.C. Docket: 14-cv-00326
Read Summary and Class Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief (PDF)
Case Issue: Did HUD fail to protect surviving spouses of reverse mortgage borrowers from foreclosure and eviction after the death of their spouses as required by the HECM statute?
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: United Homes v. Barkley
Court: U.S. Ct. App. 2d Cir. Docket: 12:2909; 12:2912; 12:3619; 12:3621
Case Result: AFL collected attorney's fees awarded in Barkley v. Olympia from defendants, United Homes, after compelling disclosure of financial statements and assets showing that principals of United Homes had transferred the assets in order to avoid paying the judgment.
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: Oster v. Wagner
Court: U.S. Ct. App. 9th Cir. Docket: 09-17581
Read Summary and AARP's Amicus Brief (PDF)
Case Issue: Does state law reducing in home Medicaid services violate the Supremacy Clause?
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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