FHA Insurance
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Shooting the messenger in FHA cases revisited.
Some time ago I blogged on a case in which a lease broker was sued for conveying to a prospective tenant the owner’s discriminatory refusal to rent.¹ Today I’m taking another look at the shooting the messenger problem, this time with a difference; the messenger was an insurance broker. Thanks to Bill Goren for call Continue reading
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Indemnity and Contribution under the Fair Housing Act
A recent decision from the Northern District of New York has a useful summary of the law of contribution and indemnity in Fair Housing Act cases. Clover Communities Beavercreek, LLC et al v. Mussachio Architects P.C. et al, 2023 WL 3864965 (N.D.N.Y. June 7, 2023). For the plaintiffs, who were developers and owners, there is Continue reading
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Risky business – the FHA forbids discrimination based on perceived risk.
You can’t turn down or evict a handicapped* tenant because renting to him would increase your risk of liability. That is one of the important lessons from the Second Circuit’s June 2 decision in Rodriguez v. Vill. Green Realty, Inc., 2015 WL 3461554, at *15 (2d Cir. June 2, 2015). If a tenant or prospective tenant is Continue reading
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What were they thinking? Indemnity and accessibility under the ADA and FHA
The rule is simple, but crazy. A contractual indemnity provision that shifts liability for FHA or ADA violations is unenforceable. Equal Rights Center v. Niles Bolton Ass., 602 F.3d 597 (4th Cir. 2010). Owners, operators, contractors and others who may have independent liability for ADA or FHA violations cannot contract among themselves to determine who Continue reading
