A city can be an "aggrieved person" authorized to bring suit under the FHA, and conduct challenged under the FHA must be shown to be a proximate cause of the harm attributed to it.
Bank of America Corp. v. Miami, 581U.S. 189(2017), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the court held that a city can be an "aggrieved person" authorized to bring suit under the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and that foreseeability of harm is not sufficient to establish proximate cause between the alleged conduct and the alleged harm under the FHA.[1][2]
The City of Miami filed suit against Bank of America and Wells Fargo (Banks), alleging violations of the Fair Housing Act (FHA or Act). The FHA prohibits, among other things, racial discrimination in connection with real-estate transactions and permits any "aggrieved person" to file a civil damages action for a violation of the Act. The City's complaints charged that the Banks intentionally targeted predatory practices at African-American and Latino neighborhoods and residents, lending to marginalized borrowers on worse terms than equally creditworthy white borrowers and inducing defaults by failing to extend refinancing and loan modifications to marginalized borrowers on fair terms. The City alleged that the Banks' discriminatory conduct led to a disproportionate number of foreclosures and vacancies in marginalized neighborhoods, which impaired the City's effort to assure racial integration, diminished the City's property-tax revenue, and increased demand for police, fire, and other municipal services. The federal district court dismissed the complaints on the grounds that (1) the harms alleged fell outside the zone of interests the FHA protects and (2) the complaints failed to show a sufficient causal connection between the City's injuries and the Banks' discriminatory conduct. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed.[1]
Opinion of the court
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The Supreme Court issued an opinion on May 1, 2017.[1]
Subsequent developments
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