Antidiscrimination Law

Eighth Circuit upholds finding that landlord sexually harassed a tenant in violation of the Fair Housing Act but affirms the trial court’s reduction of the jury’s punitive damages award

/ Antidiscrimination Law, Due Process, Fair Housing Act, Leaseholds

In Quigley v. Winter, 598 F.3d 938 (8th Cir. 2010),the Eighth Circuit upheld a trial court ruling that landlord sexually harassed tenant in violation of the Fair Housing Act (FHA), but it affirmed the  trial court’s reduction of the jury’s punitive damages award. The jury awarded $13,685 in compensatory damages and $250,000 in punitive damages. The trial court reduced the punitive damages award to $20,527.50. The landlord engaged in a variety of inappropriate behavior, rubbing tenant’s arm, standing close to her and rubbing his genital area, following tenant and her sister into the bedroom while conducting an inspection and they were in their pajamas and then refusing to leave until asked to do so three times, calling tenant while drunk at 2:30 or 3:00 am.  The Eighth Circuit held that a claim for hostile housing environment created by sexual harassment is actionable under the FHA, that there was sufficient evidence to find that landlord’s …

Eighth Circuit upholds finding that landlord sexually harassed a tenant in violation of the Fair Housing Act but affirms the trial court’s reduction of the jury’s punitive damages award Read More »

Craigslist seeks to prevent discriminatory housing ads

/ Antidiscrimination Law, Fair Housing Act, Sexual Orientation

Craigslist.org now is seeking to prevent discriminatory housing ads (including roommate ads) on its website by posting the following message before one is allowed to fill out a classified housing advertisement: “Stating a discriminatory preference in a housing post is illegal, is prohibited on craigslist, and can be expensive:  you can be fined more than $10,000 for each discriminatory ad, plus damages in court, plus loss of license if you are a professional. Avoid phrases which could be interpreted as discriminating by race/color/origin (e.g. ‘hispanic area’), religion (e.g. ‘christian home’), age / familial status (e.g. ‘no kids’), disability, sexual orientation, or source of income. The words you choose can cost you – get the facts and avoid being prosecuted under fair housing law.”

Co-ops accused of racial bias

/ Antidiscrimination Law, Co-Ops, Fair Housing Act, Restraints on Alienation

Two Bronx communities organized as co-ops require references from three co-op members in order to buy units. After using testers, the Fair Housing Justice Center has filed a lawsuit arguing that this requirement has a discriminatory effect when existing co-op members are overwhelmingly white and when the requirement was not consistently applied. Read article.

Town faces Fair Housing Act lawsuit for moratorium on multi-family housing

/ Antidiscrimination Law, Fair Housing Act

A nonprofit organization named Mano en Mano that sought to build multi-family housing affordable by farm workers was stymied by a change in the town’s zoning law placing a moratorium on all multi-family housing. That change in the law may have been motivated by racially discriminatory motives (by at least some townspeople) against the mostly Latino farm worker population and the nonprofit organization has sued the town of Milbridge, Maine claiming that the change in the law violates the Fair Housing Act. For background on the case see here. Perhaps in response to both the lawsuit and the publicity generated by the moratorium, the town voted on Nov. 16, 2009 to rescind the moratorium, allowing the construction of the housing project to go forward. Read article.

Circuit split over whether Fair Housing Act regulates post-acquisition discrimination

/ Antidiscrimination Law, Fair Housing Act

The federal courts cannot agree on the question of whether the Fair Housing Act (FHA) applies only to discrimination in acquiring or renting property or also applies to post-acquisition discrimination in provision of services. The Fifth Circuit held, in Cox v. Dallas, 430 F.3d 734 (5th Circ. 2005), that African American residents of a neighborhood afflicted with an illegal dump had no remedy against the city that failed to clean it up. The court held that the dump merely made the housing less habitable but did not make it “unavailable” as required by 42 U.S.C. §3604(a) and that the prohibition against discriminatory terms in the sale or rental of a dwelling was inapplicable to city actions when the city was not the seller or renter of the property. For background on the case see here. Similarly, the Seventh Circuit ruled in Halprin v. Prairie Single Family Homes of Dearborn Park Assoc., 388 F.3d 327 (7th …

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Does a same-sex couple have to move back to Massachusetts to get divorced?

/ Antidiscrimination Law, Marital Property, Sexual Orientation

A judge in Texas has allowed a couple married in Massachusetts to get divorced in Texas even though Texas law does not recognize the validity of same-sex marriages. The couple was married in Massachusetts but then moved to Texas when one of them was transferred by his company. They decided to divorce after moving to Texas. If the Texas courts cannot grant the divorce, then one of them would have to move back to Massachusetts and live there for a full year before a divorce could be granted. If they want a Massachusetts court to order equitable distribution of the property acquired during the marriage, both would have to move back to Massachusetts. To avoid this result, Texas judge Tena Callahan ruled that it violated the equal protection clause for Texas not to recognize the validity of the Massachusetts marriage. The Texas attorney general has vowed to appeal to overturn …

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Same sex marriage

/ Antidiscrimination Law, Marital Property, Sexual Orientation

Hawai’i came close to recognizing same-sex marriages in a 1993 decision called Baehr v. Lewin, 852 P.2d 44, 59 (Haw. 1993), in which the court held that denying individuals the freedom to marry others of the same sex presumptively constituted sex discrimination in violation of the equal protection clause of the Hawai’i Constitution. However, that route is now closed by a state constitutional amendment. Haw. Const. art. 1, §23. A similar decision in Alaska, Brause v. Bureau of Vital Statistics, 1998 WL 88743 (Alaska Super. Ct. 1998), was similarly preempted by constitutional amendment. S.J. Res. 42, 20th Leg., 2d Legis. Sess. (Alaska 1998) (passed Nov. 3, 1998). The Supreme Court of Vermont held, in Baker v. State of Vermont, 744 A.2d 864 (Vt. 1999), that the “common benefits” provision of the Vermont Constitution requires the state to grant same-sex couples the legal incidents of marriage, whether or not the state …

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