This month, Relman Colfax celebrated the legacy and lessons of Black History Month, continuing to be inspired by the civil rights activists who laid the groundwork for the statutes we work to enforce. We mourn the passing–and celebrate the life–of Reverend Jesse Jackson, whose advocacy included battling for equality, pushing corporations to adopt policies that support diversity and inclusion and shaping policies for housing rights and voting rights. His influence is reflected in our civil rights work and we will continue to carry his lessons forward for future generations.
Continuing the Legacy of Civil Rights Activism
This Black History Month, we are inspired by the civil rights leaders, past and present, who have inspired and shaped our work. Building on the centuries-old struggle for equality, we have been privileged to work alongside present-day civil rights warriors who have spoken up against injustice. We are grateful for those who fought tirelessly to ensure we have protections through the Voting Rights Act, Equal Credit Opportunity Act, and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and know it is our responsibility to uphold these laws and ensure they are enforced.
We would like to uplift some of those voices who have made their mark and entered the history books for acquiring equality through the rule of law.
Speaking Out Against Housing Discrimination
In Relman Colfax’s history as a firm, we have taken on hundreds of housing discrimination cases. This month, we wish to highlight the bravery of one woman, in particular, who fought heroically to bring attention to this nationwide issue.
In May 2024, Dr. Raven Baxter, a molecular biologist with a Ph.D. in science education and Black woman, tried to purchase a house in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Dr. Baxter offered the asking price, and the seller initially accepted her offer. But during the escrow period, Dr. Baxter learned that the seller, who is white, wanted to pull out of the deal because she did not want to sell her home to a Black person. The events were extensively reported in the New York Times.
Dr. Baxter hired Relman Colfax to represent her, and a settlement was reached. The seller’s realtor and her agency paid $600,000 and agreed to provide additional training to their employees and agents about the requirements of the Fair Housing Act and related state and local laws.
As Dr. Baxter told the Times, “Good things can happen when people stick up for themselves. Everyone deserves to be part of the American dream.”
Read more about Dr. Baxter’s story.
Ensuring Equality Throughout The South
Relman Colfax understands the longstanding history of race and inequality in the South. The firm has paid close attention to this region to ensure that the vision of the activists who fought bravely in Selma, Birmingham Greensboro and Atlanta decades ago continue to be realized.
In 2011, Relman Colfax prevailed in multi-year litigation against St. Bernard Parish in Louisiana, which had blocked development of several hundred units of new affordable housing in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. St. Bernard Parish, located southeast of the city of New Orleans and adjacent to majority African American neighborhoods, was over 93% white at the time of the lawsuit. The Court found that the Parish violated the Fair Housing Act and other civil rights laws by passing a September 2008 moratorium in the construction of multi-family housing. The Court previously struck down several restrictive ordinances passed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, including a nearly identical multi-family moratorium in 2005, and a 2006 "blood relative" ordinance that restricted the rental of single-family residences to those related by blood to the owner of the property. The Court found that St. Bernard Parish acted with racially discriminatory intent and that its actions had a discriminatory effect on African Americans.
Read more about Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center and Provident Realty v. St. Bernard Parish.
In 2022, Relman Colfax filed a friend of the court brief in a Voting Rights Act case before the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the Central Alabama Fair Housing Center in Montgomery, the Fair Housing Center of Northern Alabama in Birmingham, and the Center for Fair Housing in Mobile. The underlying case challenged Alabama’s congressional district map as being racially discriminatory. The brief provided context for the Supreme Court’s consideration of whether residential segregation–a consequence of decades of governmental sanction and encouragement–diluted Black voting rights.
In 2023, the Supreme Court issued a resounding victory for voting rights. It affirmed the lower court’s determination that the Plaintiffs had shown a substantial likelihood that Alabama’s Congressional map violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by diluting Black Alabamians’ voting power. In holding that Alabama’s map likely violates Section 2, the Court agreed that Alabama’s Black Belt is a community of interest that should be taken into account in districting.
Read more about Merrill, et al. v. Milligan, et al.
Relman Colfax had the honor of representing dozens of Black, Gullah Geechee descendants who live and own property in the Hogg Hummock community on Sapelo Island, a barrier island off the coast of McIntosh County, Georgia. The Black Gullah Geechee community has owned land on Sapelo Island since the 19th century. During the 20th century, white industrialists Harold Coffin and R. J. Reynolds engaged in large-scale efforts to defraud Gullah Geechee descendants of their property, acquiring the vast majority of land on Sapelo Island through suspicious land transfers and forcing the Black Gullah Geechee community into a single neighborhood, Hogg Hummock. The Reynolds estate then sold the land it had taken from the descendants to the State of Georgia, which now owns about 97% of the Island.
McIntosh County has long collected taxes from Sapelo Island residents, despite providing little in the way of municipal services. In 2012, the County’s Board of Tax Assessors dramatically increased the property assessments on Sapelo Island, producing exorbitant tax hikes, with Islanders’ annual payments increasing by as much as 30-fold. Taxation has historically been a primary instrument for towns and counties in Georgia and South Carolina to drive Gullah Geechee people out of their homes on the barrier islands, and the Hogg Hummock Gullah Geechee community feared that it would be forced to leave the island where their families had lived for generations. Members of the community sought legal assistance from Relman Colfax, and the firm successfully challenged the tax increases, returning taxes to near their earlier levels.
In 2015, Relman Colfax filed federal civil rights claims against the County and State. Plaintiffs alleged that the County and State failed to provide adequate water, emergency medical, fire, road maintenance, trash, and accessible ferry services to members of the community. In August 2022, the firm settled the historic case.
Georgia-based filmmaker Tabia Lisenbee-Parker captured the story of the Gullah Geechee community on Sapelo Island and its fight for equal treatment in a film about the case.
Read more about Drayton, et al. v. McIntosh County, Georgia.
Fighting Against Reverse Redlining in Education
In 2011, Relman Colfax brought the first reverse redlining case against a for-profit university, and, through this case, the firm continues its work fighting against predatory lending practices in the for-profit education space.
In Morgan v. Richmond School of Health and Technology, Inc., Relman Colfax represented a plaintiff class in a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia against Richmond School of Health and Technology, Inc. (RSHT), which owned and operated a for-profit vocational college on campuses in Chester and Richmond, Virginia. In the complaint, it was alleged that RSHT used a variety of deceptive practices to encourage students to take out large federal student loans for an education that the school knew was inadequate, and that RSHT targeted Black students and residents of low-income neighborhoods for enrollment. The class alleged violations of the federal Equal Credit Opportunity Act, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Virginia Consumer Protection Act, breach of contract, and fraudulent inducement to contract.
On July 25, 2013, U.S. District Judge John A. Gibney, Jr. granted final approval to a $5 million class action settlement. Not only was this case the first reverse redlining case ever filed against a for-profit college in the country, it continues to inspire others to hold institutions accountable and fight against predatory lending practices in the for-profit education space. Most notably, this case’s ruling laid the groundwork and made the historic settlement for Carroll et al. v. Walden University, LLC et al possible.
Read more about Morgan v. Richmond School of Health and Technology, Inc.
In Carroll et al. v. Walden University, LLC et al., Relman Colfax filed a class action lawsuit against Walden University, a for-profit university that offers online degree programs. The lawsuit, filed in 2022, brought claims under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and Minnesota state law. The brave plaintiffs alleged that Walden engaged in reverse redlining by intentionally targeting Black and female students for what it falsely represented to be cost- and time-effective online degree programs, but that actually amounted to an expensive predatory scheme.
The complaint alleged that Walden deliberately hid the true cost of its Doctor of Business Administration Program. While advertising a doctoral degree with a specific number of required “capstone” credits, it lured students to the DBA program with the false promise of a swift graduate degree. The complaint alleged that Walden inflated the cost of the DBA program by arbitrarily requiring students to complete additional capstone credits. Walden used this ploy to delay degree completion, thereby increasing DBA students’ tuition costs by tens of thousands of dollars. Worse still, Plaintiffs claimed that Walden targeted Black and female prospective students by advertising in communities with a higher portion of Black residents.
On October 17, 2024, U.S. District Judge Julie R. Rubin granted final approval of a $28.5 million class action settlement.
“This historic $28.5 million proposed settlement marks not just meaningful relief for the nearly 2,300 students who are encompassed by Plaintiffs’ claims of race- and gender-based targeting, but also a crucial step towards preventing future discrimination in higher education. By holding Walden accountable, Relman Colfax affirms our commitment to safeguarding the rights of all students,” said Lila Miller, Attorney at Relman Colfax.
Read more about Carroll et al. v. Walden University, LLC et al.
Sounding The Alarm In The Wall Street Journal
This month, Co-Managing Partner Stephen Hayes called out a factually incorrect op-ed that was published by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Acting Director, Russ Vought. In his Letter to the Editor response for the Wall Street Journal, Stephen pushed back on a misleading narrative about fair lending enforcement and Vought’s attempts to rewrite history on how decades of civil rights protections and anti-discrimination laws have been meaningfully enforced. The record shows that discrimination in lending has been proven in court, documented through evidence, and measured in outcomes. Stephen reminds readers that "Mr. Vought and the White House are the ones who have turned fair lending laws on their head." Read the full piece.
Combating Predatory Lending
Last month, Relman Colfax secured a major victory for Black and Latino homeowners against New York-based Emigrant Savings Bank and Emigrant Mortgage Company for discriminatory mortgage lending after a nearly fifteen-year-long court battle.
The firm represented eight Black and Latino borrowers who had been exploited by Emigrant’s predatory loan program. Over the course of two trials, our lawyers presented significant evidence that Emigrant targeted Black and Latino families in New York with grossly unfavorable loans. The defendants’ practice of unfair and deceptive loans was a textbook example of reverse redlining—targeting minority communities with loans that were destined to fail, leaving borrowers and their families almost certain to lose their homes or face foreclosure proceedings. After the Supreme Court declined to grant certiorari on Emigrant’s appeal in January of 2026, there was finally an end to a more than decade-long effort by Emigrant to escape accountability for predatory loans targeting homeowners of color. Since then, this news has been covered by HousingWire, Legal Reader, and BK Reader. It is continuing to gain traction in the media and our hope is that it will serve as a stark warning for financial institutions that there is accountability for predatory lending actions and that the rule of law is on the side of those fighting for fairness.
The Relman Colfax team is led by Reed Colfax, Tara Ramchandani, Yiyang Wu, Lila Miller, and Ted Olds.
Read more about Saint-Jean v. Emigrant Mortgage Co.
Closing Thoughts
Our work today would not be possible without activists like Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King Jr., Joann Robinson, Bob Moses, Thurgood Marshall, Ruby Bridges, Reverend Jesse Jackson, and many others who laid the foundation for equality in housing, voting, education, and society as a whole. And we have had the good fortune to work with many modern activists who have, through the law, transformed their experiences to serve as precedent for many others for generations to come.
“Current and historical discrimination continues to have an impact on whether or not people have opportunity, and when you look at the level of residential segregation we still have, it’s a result of our history. It’s not an accident, it’s not by chance,” Co-Managing Partner Reed Colfax said in an interview with resilient magazine.
Relman Colfax continues to reflect on our nation’s history of discrimination, not as a source of discouragement, but as a guide for reimagining what is now possible. The firm remains unwavering in its commitment to securing fair housing, advancing equal opportunity, and helping build a more equitable future for all.
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