Filed Date: May 23, 2024
Case Ongoing
Clearinghouse coding complete
This is a lawsuit challenging an Evanston, Illinois program that offers reparations to Black Americans for past housing discrimination.
On May 23, 2024, six individuals filed this putative class action lawsuit against the City of Evanston in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. They challenged the city's Restorative Housing Program, an initiative to compensate Black residents for housing discrimination they or their ancestors faced between 1919 and 1969 via $25,000 payments to eligible applicants. Plaintiffs were all direct descendants of people who lived in Evanston between 1919 and 1969, and neither they nor their ancestors identified as Black. They claimed that the race-based eligibility requirement for compensation under the Restorative Housing Program violated the Equal Protection Clause by excluding non-Black people. Plaintiffs, represented by Judicial Watch and private counsel, sought to represent a class of all individuals able and ready to apply for the Program but for the its race-based eligibility requirement. They requested declaratory relief, an injunction prohibiting the use of race as an eligibility requirement, award payments under the Program, and fees and costs. The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge John F. Kness.
The City filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit on July 22, 2024. It argued that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the Program because they did not apply to participate, and the application period closed in 2021. Moreover, plaintiffs did not allege that they had property in Evanston. Therefore, they were ineligible to participate in the program and had not suffered the "concrete and particularized injury" necessary to support standing. The City sought jurisdictional discovery to confirm that the plaintiffs were not eligible to participate in the program. It also argued that the complaint was untimely and barred by the statute of limitations because it had not been filed until more than two and a half years from the time the application period for the Program ended.
As of October 2024, the motion to dismiss remains pending.
Summary Authors
Tessa Bialek (10/31/2024)
For PACER's information on parties and their attorneys, see: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68559571/parties/flinn-v-city-of-evanston/
Bekesha, Michael (Illinois)
Orfanedes, Paul J (Illinois)
Brody, Michael Timothy (Illinois)
Grandfield, Cynthia Sara (Illinois)
Jacobs-Perry, Precious S. (Illinois)
See docket on RECAP: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68559571/flinn-v-city-of-evanston/
Last updated Oct. 31, 2024, 10:14 a.m.
State / Territory: Illinois
Case Type(s):
Public Benefits/Government Services
Key Dates
Filing Date: May 23, 2024
Case Ongoing: Yes
Plaintiffs
Plaintiff Description:
Six non-Black descendants of residents of the City of Evanston, Illinois between 1919-1969, seeking to represent a class of all individuals who were able and ready to apply for the City's reparations program but for its race-based eligibility requirement.
Plaintiff Type(s):
Public Interest Lawyer: Yes
Filed Pro Se: No
Class Action Sought: Yes
Class Action Outcome: Pending
Defendants
City of Evanston (Evanston, Cook), City
Defendant Type(s):
Case Details
Causes of Action:
Ex parte Young (federal or state officials)
Constitutional Clause(s):
Available Documents:
Outcome
Prevailing Party: None Yet / None
Nature of Relief:
Source of Relief:
Issues
General/Misc.:
Discrimination Area:
Discrimination Basis:
Affected Race(s):