This case is about discriminatory housing practices in New York City.
In the fall of 2012, the Fair Housing Justice Center received a complaint alleging that the Esplanade Residences refused to rent to people who use wheelchairs. As a result, the FHJC launched an investigation into the matter by sending "testers" to observe the residences' polices while posing as potential renters. Based on the findings of the investigations, on May 29, 2013, the FHJC filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York under the Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3601. Represented by a private public interest firm and a non-profit legal organization, the plaintiffs alleged that the owners and managers of five independent senior living residences were discriminating on the basis of disability, religion, and race in violation of fair housing laws. Specifically, the complaint alleged three violations of the Fair Housing Act for discrimination of the bases of disability, religion, and race, as well as violations of state fair housing laws. The plaintiffs sought injunctive relief, in the form of policy change, and damages. The case was assigned to Magistrate Judge Ronald Ellis and Judge Analisa Torres.
The defendants filed their answer on July 22, 2013. Following a pretrial conference on August 30, the parties agreed to a settlement conference before a magistrate judge prior to proceeding to trial. Initially, this conference was set for October 8, 2013, but was rescheduled twice.
FHJC filed an amended complaint on October 2, 2013 and added a jury demand. On November 1, the plaintiff withdrew the amended complaint, making the complaint filed on May 29 the operative complaint. On November 8, FHJC filed a motion for leave to amend their complaint in order to add Chestnut Operating Company as a defendant in light of information uncovered in discovery. On November 21, the defendants consented to the amendment of the complaint and, on December 18, they filed an answer.
The settlement conference was held on November 22, 2013 and did not settle at that time, according to a minute entry. The conference was adjourned to January 6, 2014. The parties engaged in several conferences that did not result in settlement throughout 2014, many of which were adjourned multiple times for reasons related to discovery. The case was reassigned to Judge Valerie E. Caproni.
The final conference was held on November 12, 2014. The parties reached a settlement on December 11, 2014 and a stipulation for voluntary dismissal was filed on January 8, 2015. The settlement included policy changes to conform the defendants' policies to the requirements of the Fair Housing Act. The defendants would not discriminate against residents or prospective residents on the basis of disability, religion, or race by denying housing, falsely representing unavailability of housing, advertising in a way that indicated discrimination. Specifically, the defendants would end a practice of inquiring into a prospective renters religion or disability, they would provide reasonable accommodations and a means by which to request them, include more diverse models and the phrase "Equal Opportunity Housing" in their advertising, and train their employees on these new policies. The agreement also contained certain measures particular to each housing complex. In addition to the policy changes, the settlement agreement included a monetary settlement of $297,500 for damages, attorneys’ fees, and costs. The obligations under the settlement agreement would continue for four years, through which the court would retain jurisdiction.
The case was dismissed with prejudice on January 12, 2015 with the court retaining jurisdiction only to enforce compliance with the settlement. No docket entries have been filed since 2015, and the case is presumably closed.
Rachel Kreager - 03/17/2021
compress summary
