What a Landlord Need to Do When a Tenanr Is Been Racist Again Other Tenant
On March 21, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held en banc in Francis v. Kings Park Manor, Inc., et al. (Francis 2) that landlords, who do not have discriminatory intent, are not liable under the Off-white Housing Act (FHA) for ignoring tenant-on-tenant racial harassment in their buildings. In considering the question of whether a landlord is liable for discrimination under the FHA where he fails to answer to reports of race-based harassment against a tenant past a fellow tenant, the court stated that "landlords cannot be presumed to have the degree of control over tenants that would be necessary to impose liability under the FHA for tenant-on-tenant misconduct."
The dispute at the heart of this example revolves around Raymond Endres's alleged race-based harassment of his neighbor, Donahue Francis. Francis claimed that, on approximately 8 occasions, Endres verbally attacked and attempted to intimidate him with racist insults and at least one decease threat. Francis reported Endres's conduct to the Suffolk County Police Department, which informed the parties' landlord, Kings Park Manor, Inc. (KPM), of the reported events. Suffolk County PD arrested Endres and charged him with misdemeanor aggravated harassment. Francis informed KPM of Endres's conduct, the police's involvement in the matter, and Endres's abort. Francis alleged that KPM chose non to investigate or intervene and expressly directed the property manager "non to get involved."
In 2014, Francis filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern Commune of New York against Endres and KPM. Francis claimed that KPM committed racial discrimination under the FHA by failing to accost Endres'southward deport. The district court dismissed Francis's FHA claim, finding that Francis did not allege a basis for imputing the allegedly harassing acquit to KPM or that KPM failed to intervene on account of their own racial animus toward Francis. On appeal in Francis v. Kings Park Manor, Inc. et al. (Francis I), the Second Circuit reversed the district court'south determination. Earlier remanding, however, the Second Circuit set aside its reversal and reheard the example en banc in Francis Two.
Considering Francis'due south allegations did not rest on direct evidence of landlord discrimination, the en banc 2nd Circuit in Francis Two analyzed Francis's claim nether the McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting framework. For a plaintiff'due south claim to survive a motion to dismiss under this framework, he must allege that he is a member of a protected form, suffered an adverse activeness, and has at least minimal support for the proposition that the housing provider was motivated by discriminatory intent. Francis claimed that KPM intentionally discriminated against him under a "deliberate indifference" theory of liability. The Second Circuit commented that courts have practical this theory almost exclusively in custodial environments such every bit schools and prisons, "where it is clear that the defendant has both 'substantial control over the context in which harassment occurs' and 'a custodial power over the harasser permitting a caste of supervision and control that could not be exercised over costless adults.'"
The Second Circuit held in Francis 2 that Francis's complaint did not provide a factual basis to infer that KPM had "substantial control over Endres and the context in which the known harassment occurred." The courtroom stated that information technology could not presume substantial control to be in a typical arm'southward length relationship between landlord and tenant, and that "[t]he typical powers of a landlord over a tenant – such as the power to evict – practice non establish the substantial command necessary to state a deliberate indifference claim under the FHA." The courtroom concluded that, even if KPM had such control, Francis nonetheless could non prevail because KPM's inaction was not "clearly unreasonable in light of the circumstances." The Second Excursion therefore held that KPM was not liable for racial discrimination under the FHA for Endres's behave confronting Francis.
Source: https://www.financialservicesperspectives.com/2021/04/second-circuit-rules-on-landlord-fair-housing-act-liability-for-ignoring-tenant-on-tenant-racial-harassment/
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