On April 7, 2010, the City of Memphis filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, Western Division under Tennessee state law and the Fair Housing Act against Wells Fargo Bank. The Plaintiff, represented by private counsel, asked the court for injunctive, monetary, and declaratory relief, claiming that the Defendant's unlawful, irresponsible, unfair, deceptive, and discriminatory lending practices resulted in injuries to Memphis's minority neighborhoods. Two other cases -- Baltimore v. Wells Fargo and U.S. v. Wells Fargo made essentially equivalent allegations.

The Plaintiffs alleged that since 2000, the Defendant had engaged in a pattern or practice of targeting African-American neighborhoods in Memphis and Shelby County for deceptive, predatory, or otherwise unfair lending practices.

In 2012, according to newspaper reports, the parties reached a settlement in which the Defendant agreed to pay $3 million to the city and county to support economic development and $4.5 million in grants for mortgage down payments and home renovations. The Defendant also set a lending goal of $425 million for residents of Memphis and Shelby County over the next five years. This figure included $125 million earmarked for low and moderate income borrowers. On July 3, 2012, the case was dismissed with prejudice on the plaintiffs' motion. The consent decree ran its course with no further activity in the court.

Gregory Pitt - 07/24/2012
Asma Husain - 01/31/2016


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