Wells Fargo’s discriminatory lending practices have resulted in extraordinarily high rates of foreclosure in minority neighborhoods.  These foreclosures cause the City and County to lose property tax revenues and to spend additional funds for critical municipal services as foreclosed homes become vacant and deteriorate.

The complaint highlights detailed statements from former Wells Fargo loan officers explaining how the company has used discretion in pricing and financial incentives to encourage its employees to target African-American neighborhoods for deceptive, high priced loans that predictably result in unnecessary foreclosures.  It also highlights a wealth of statistical evidence that reflects reverse redlining, including the fact that Wells Fargo mortgages in African-American neighborhoods in Shelby County go to foreclosure eight times as often as its mortgages in white neighborhoods.  A copy of the complaint can be obtained here.

Relman & Dane, PLLC is pleased to announce that Michael Allen has become a partner in the firm, effective January 1, 2010.  Since his arrival in June 2006, Michael has led the firm's efforts to hold recipients of federal funds accountable for their "affirmatively furthering fair housing" certifications, overseen the continued development of the firm's disability rights practice, and built strong relationships with affordable housing developers and advocates.
 
Michael's work on United States ex rel. Anti-Discrimination Center v. Westchester County led to a groundbreaking court opinion on "affirmatively furthering fair housing" and culminated in a comprehensive housing integration settlement involving the development of 750 units of affordable housing in Westchester's least diverse neighborhoods.  The Westchester County litigation also spurred the federal government's efforts to enforce its own civil rights requirements on the entities it funds.  In National Fair Housing Alliance v. A.G. Spanos Constr. Co., Michael directed complex litigation that resulted in the largest Fair Housing Act (FHA) design and construction settlement, as well as an important judicial opinion on the statute of limitations and continuing violations under the FHA.  This past summer, he also secured an important summary judgment opinion holding that emotional support animals can qualify as accommodations under the FHA without specialized training.
 
In addition, Michael has authored or contributed to numerous amicus briefs and written several articles on the FHA and affordable housing.
 
The firm welcomes Michael in his new role, and looks forward to the next round of creative litigation it will undertake with his leadership.

On March 25, 2009, United States District Court Judge Helen Berrigan ruled that St. Bernard Parish – a virtually all-white community located adjacent to New Orleans – violated the Fair Housing Act and must rescind a building moratorium on multi-family construction.  After hearing testimony and reviewing evidence during a two day trial, the Court found that the Parish’s intent in “enacting and continuing the moratorium is and was racially discriminatory,” and has an unjustified discriminatory effect on African Americans. 

The Court concluded that the 2008 multi-family moratorium violated both the Fair Housing Act and a Consent Order that the Parish had entered into to settle an earlier challenge to several restrictive ordinances passed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, including a nearly identical multi-family moratorium in 2005, and a “blood relative” ordinance that the Parish enacted in 2006.  The blood relative ordinance restricted the rental of single-family residences in St. Bernard Parish to those related by blood to the owner of the property.  The challenge to those ordinances was resolved, and the blood relative ordinance was rescinded, after the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center filed suit in Federal court and a Consent Order was entered on February 27, 2008.  The Court retained jurisdiction over enforcement of the Consent Order for three years from the entry of the Order. 

The challenge to the 2008 multi-family moratorium was brought by the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center and a private affordable housing developer, Provident Realty Advisors, which faced the loss of tax credit funding for four affordable housing developments it had planned to build in the Parish.  The Court has reserved the issue of damages and attorneys’ fees for a later hearing.

• To read a copy of Judge Helen Berrigan’s opinion, please click here.
  
  

The Judge sanctioned the Secret Service for the Agency’s willful noncompliance with discovery obligations and court orders, calling the Agency’s “recalcitrance” in producing evidence “the most prominent feature of the record in this action.” She announced that the Secret Service has “made a mockery” of federal discovery rules, court orders, and the evidentiary hearing held on this matter.

• To read a copy of Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson's opinion, please click here.
• "Secret Service Sanctioned in Race Bias Suit," The Washington Post (December 19, 2008)
• "Penalty for Secret Service at Trial," The New York Times (December 19, 2008)

Relman & Dane announces:

• To learn more about our attorneys and their fair housing work, click here.