On March 29, 2019 the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that it is charging Facebook with violating the Fair Housing Act by encouraging, enabling, and causing housing discrimination through the company’s advertising platform. HUD alleges that Facebook unlawfully discriminates based on race, color, national origin, religion, familial status, sex, and disability by restricting who can view housing-related ads on Facebook’s platforms and across the internet. Further, HUD claims Facebook mines extensive data about […]
Tag: Fair Housing
NATIVE AMERICAN DISCRIMINATION
Recently the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) approved a Conciliation Agreement resolving claims brought by three homeowners, a couple and an individual, against loanDepot.com, LLC, and Appraisal Management Services of America, Inc. The three alleged that the lender refused to refinance their homes because they are on Native American lands. The individual also claimed that loanDepot.com would not refinance his house because he is Native American. The Fair Housing Act prohibits housing […]
KLEINBANK PREVAILS IN REDLINING CASE
On January 13, 2017 the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit against KleinBank alleging that the bank engaged in unlawful “redlining” of majority-minority neighborhoods in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, alleges that KleinBank violated the Fair Housing Act and Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which prohibit financial institutions from discriminating on the basis of race and color in their mortgage lending practices. The complaint […]
SET-BACK FOR MUNICIPALITIES
The on-going saga of cities suing banks for Fair Housing damages continues. This time there is a significant victory for the banks. On May 26, 2017 in two separate decisions the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed district court rulings that struck a blow to City of Los Angeles suits claiming Wells Fargo and Bank of America violated the Fair Housing Act by discriminating against Latino and black borrowers. Citing the Supreme […]
UPDATE ON BOA DISCRIMINATION CASE
On January 15, 2017 we penned an article entitled Worth Watching – BOA Discrimination Case. The article reviewed what appeared to be fairly egregious ethnicity discrimination practices engaged in by a few Bank of America employees in the Charleston, SC market. The article concluded with the following questions: Will BOA settle? If the case makes it to court how will the court rule when the victims are testers and will any significant damages be awarded? […]