Cases and Settlements

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May 2011: The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently filed a lawsuit against the owners, developers, and design professionals involved in the design and construction of nine multifamily housing complexes in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee. Together, the communities include more than 2,000 units, including more than 800 ground-floor units that are required by the Fair Housing Act to contain accessible features. Eight of the complexes contain leasing offices that...

March 2011: Earlier this month, a federal court ordered the former property managers of a South Dakota apartment complex to pay a total of $30,000 in civil penalties for racial discrimination against three families, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Late last year, the former owner of the complex and one of its principals paid $30,000 to settle the government’s fair housing claims against them in the case.

March 2011: A federal court recently ordered a Michigan property owner and his former manager to pay a total of $82,500 in civil penalties—on top of the $115,000 jury verdict previously awarded—in a sexual harassment case under the Fair Housing Act, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

February 2011: Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that an Alabama community owner and his employees agreed to pay more than $15,000 to settle a lawsuit claiming that they violated the Fair Housing Act (FHA) by making discriminatory statements against African-American applicants.

January 2011: Last month, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a $1.25 million settlement with the owner and managers of a 196-unit Alabama community to resolve allegations that it violated fair housing law by refusing to grant a resident’s requests for a reasonable accommodation. The settlement is the largest ever obtained by the department in an individual housing discrimination case, according to federal officials.