On October 30, 2014, the Fortune Society, a non-profit organization that provides temporary and permanent housing to hundreds of formerly incarcerated individuals each year filed this suit in the U.S. District for Eastern District of New York. The plaintiffs sued Sandcastle Towers Housing Development Fund Corp under the Fair Housing Act of 1968 and New York law. Represented by private counsel, the plaintiffs alleged that in the summer of 2013 and early 2014, Fortune tried to rent apartments for its clients at The Sand Castle, a multi-building apartment complex that the defendants own and manage in Queens, New York. When defendants learned that Fortune serves formerly incarcerated individuals who would live in the apartments Fortune wanted to rent, they refused to rent apartments per the defendants' policy prohibiting anyone with a criminal record from renting an apartment or living at The Sand Castle. This ban, Fortune alleged, is discriminatory and has a unlawful disparate impact on the basis of race and color.

Fortune sought declaratory injunctive and monetary relief.

This case was assigned to the Magistrate Judge Vera M. Scanlon.

The court set up a discovery schedule, which proceeded for about a year. The defendants requested a delay due to family medical emergency, which was granted by the court.

On June 25, 2015, the court ordered the parties to meet and discuss settlement in light of the recent Supreme Court decision, Inclusive Communities Project v. Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. (Available here in the Clearinghouse).

After additional discovery and delays due to the defendants, on October 15, 2015 the court ordered that defendants must meet deadlines or force sanctions, including possible monetary sanctions, for failure to comply with the court's deadlines. The court ultimately declined the motion for sanctions.

On February 2, 2016, the court granted in part and denied in part a motion for extended discovery filed by the plaintiffs. The court issued an unusually long docket entry explaining the order.

On September 30, 2016, the defendant filed a motion for partial summary judgment and to exclude expert reports, This is currently pending before the court.

In addition, on October 18, 2016, a Statement of Interest of the United States was entered, suggesting a three-step legal test that the court should use to evaluate the plaintiff's claims (Department of Justice press release available here.

As of January 2017, the case is ongoing.

MJ Koo - 01/22/2017


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