Housing
Relman, Dane & Colfax's fair housing practice has included some of the most important and groundbreaking housing discrimination cases filed in state and federal courts. The firm has brought a wide range of fair housing cases, including challenges to discrimination by landlords in the rental of apartments, discrimination by real estate agents and companies in the sale of housing, the discriminatory provision of services by municipalities and other governments, discrimination in the construction of residential buildings that are inaccessible to people with disabilities, and racial and sexual harassment of tenants by landlords. Our cases involve all classes of people protected under the fair housing laws, including race, national origin, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, marital status, source of income, and sexual orientation. In addition to representing individuals, groups of individuals, and classes of people harmed by housing discrimination, the firm frequently brings cases on behalf of fair housing groups and other public interest organizations that have received and investigated complaints of discrimination. The firm's fair housing lawyers are frequently asked to draft amicus briefs to federal appellate courts considering important legal issues under the nation's fair housing laws.
Selected Cases
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Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center and Provident Realty v. St. Bernard Parish
On September 11, 2009, Relman, Dane & Colfax won its third motion for contempt in a year-long dispute against St. Bernard Parish and the St. Bernard Parish Council. The firm represented the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center and Provident Realty Advisors, Inc. in opposing the Parish's continuing efforts to block Provident from building four mixed-income, affordable housing developments. The Court ordered the Parish to meet specific deadlines for approval of Provident's building permits, the final step necessary to begin construction, and ordered the imposition of sanctions of up to $10,000 per day if the Parish did not comply. For a copy of that opinion, click here. To read more about the case, click here.
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Johns v. Stillwell
On Friday, May 29, 2009, Relman, Dane & Colfax won a jury verdict of $250,000 for an African-American couple whose landlord removed all their belongings while they were out of town and then burned them on the property of the home the couple had rented in Gordonsville, Virginia. After a four-day trial in the Western District of Virginia with fifteen witnesses testifying, the jury deliberated less than two hours before returning a verdict with $100,000 in compensatory damages each for the husband and wife and $50,000 in punitive damages against the Defendant. Essential to the evidence presented were photographs of the lifetime of possessions removed and burned, including a photograph of the landlord sitting in a lawnchair next to a heap of the ashes of the Plaintiffs' belongings.
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Gewalt v. Porter
Relman, Dane & Colfax represents a gay couple in Northern California who were subjected to years of discriminatory harassment on the basis of their sexual orientation by their neighbors, Britt and Stuart Porter. The couple filed the lawsuit in California state court, alleging that the Porters harassment created a hostile living environment in violation of California fair housing law, hate crimes statutes, and nuisance law. The complaint was filed after the Porters repeatedly and over several years yelled epithets at the couple based on their sexual orientation, stalked them, accosted them, violated restraining orders, and vandalized their property. Mrs. Porter repeatedly called the couple “f-----g faggots”, “queers,” and “butt f-----g boy lovers” among other equally explicit, demeaning, and insulting epithets. The case is expected to go to trial in 2010.
