Lila R. Miller

The Fortune Society, a leading reentry organization, is challenging the exclusionary practices of a New York City-based affordable housing provider with a demonstrated history of banning applicants with a record of criminal legal involvement.

Filed in 2020, this consumer protection class action lawsuit aims to hold Presbyterian Healthcare Services accountable for representing that Guy Rosenschein was a qualified Pediatric Surgeon and Pediatric Urologist when he allegedly lacked the necessary credentials to hold those titles. The lawsuit alleges that Defendant PHS prioritized profits over patients by knowingly funneling patients to him despite knowing that he had not completed the residencies and fellowships necessary to practice in the United States.

On January 7, 2022, Relman Colfax and co-counsel the National Student Legal Defense Network filed a class action lawsuit in federal court against Walden University, a for-profit university that solely offers online degree programs. This lawsuit, brought under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, alleges that Walden engaged in “reverse redlining” by intentionally targeting Black and female students for what appears to be a cost- and time-effective online degree program, but ultimately amounts to an expensive predatory scheme.

On May 19, 2021, Relman Colfax filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging that the Town of Natick, Massachusetts, its Planning Board and Historical Commission discriminated on the basis of race, color and national origin—in violation of the Fair Housing Act and the U.S. Constitution—when they delayed and then denied an application by a Black immigrant couple to build condominiums under a recently-enacted zoning bylaw.

This lawsuit alleges that a large San Antonio, Texas housing development and management company discriminates against low-income tenants with disabilities who need reasonable modifications to use and enjoy their apartments.

This lawsuit, brought on behalf of Amber Reineck House, its founder and President, Courtney Atsalakis, and the Fair Housing Center of Southeast & Mid Michigan, alleges that the City of Howell and its employees discriminated against people with disabilities by engaging in a concerted effort to prevent Amber Reineck House from opening a sober living home for women.

In a significant victory in the fight for fair lending, we secured a major jury verdict against New York-based Emigrant Savings Bank and Emigrant Mortgage Company for discriminatory mortgage lending. The June 2016 liability verdict was both the first case in which a jury held a bank accountable for lending practices that contributed to the country’s 2008 financial collapse, and the first reverse redlining case ever to be tried in federal court.

This case, brought by Edward Kovari against Prisoner Transportation Services and two of its subsidiaries, alleged that Mr. Kovari was subjected to extreme and inhumane conditions over 18 days while he was transported from Virginia to Texas in an overcrowded prison transport van. The case settled after the district court found that Mr. Kovari had presented substantial evidence to support a finding that Defendants’ conduct violated the Constitution and that these Constitutional violations were caused by Defendants’ policies and practices.

This systemic housing discrimination case against the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) challenges Fannie Mae’s discriminatory maintenance of its “real estate owned” (REO) properties around the country.

This case against McIntosh County and the State of Georgia alleges that the denial of basic municipal services to one of the last Gullah-Geechee communities on Sapelo Island, Georgia violates plaintiffs' constitutional rights.