Lila R. Miller

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.

In this lawsuit, Access Living, an independent living center, challenges the City of Chicago’s failure to provide accessible, affordable housing to people with disabilities under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Fair Housing Act.

This case, brought by Edward Kovari against Prisoner Transportation Services and two of its subsidiaries, alleges 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, in violation of his constitutional rights.