Docket: Housing and Livable Communities

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: Wetzel v. Glen St. Andrew Living Community

Court: U.S. Ct. App. 7th Cir. Docket: 17-1322

Filed: 6/15/2017

Read Brief (PDF)

Case Issue: Under the Fair Housing Act, is a housing provider liable for failing to promptly correct and end tenant-on-tenant harassment on its property?

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: Hope Fair Housing Ctr. v. Alden Gardens

Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. ND Ill  Docket: 1:15-cv-009715

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. 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: Snyder v. Castro

Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. D.C.  Docket: 15-cv-00568-ESH

Decided: 7/8/2015

Read Complaint (PDF)

Case Result: After years of litigation in Bennett v. Donovan, Plunkett v. Castro, and Snyder v. Castro, HUD finally took regulatory action to protect non-borrowing spouses with reverse mortgages, as required by statute. 

Case Name: Texas Dep't of Hous. and Cmty. Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project

Court: U.S. Supreme Court  Docket: 13-1371

Decided: 6/28/2015

Read Summary and AARP's Amicus Brief (PDF)

Case Result: The Court found that the disparate impact standard is cognizable under the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and that the Act not only prohibits intentional acts of discrimination, but also housing practices that have an unjustified discriminatory effect.

Case Name: Rodriguez v. Village Green Realty

Court: U.S. Ct. App. 2d Cir.   Docket: 13-4792

Decided: 6/2/2015

Read Summary and AARP's Amicus Brief (PDF)

Case Result: The second circuit held that: 1) no particular form of evidence (medical, etc.) is needed to demonstrate a disability, even under the Fair Housing Act's tougher standard (same as the pre-2008 Amendments ADA); 2) an impairment that limits one's ability to secure housing or, importantly, that is perceived to limit that ability, constitutes a disability; and 3) that one can make a discriminatory statement about the availability of housing under the FHA regardless of whether the person in question is actually disabled.

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: 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: Bilaal v. Abell

Court: D.C. Superior Ct.

Read Summary

Case Issue: Did defendants conspire to deceive older D.C. homeowners into transferring title to their homes under the guise of loaning them money to stop the foreclosure?

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?