Under Gov. Code 12965(b), (c)(6), the award of attorney fees and costs to a prevailing defendant in a FEHA case is discretionary but governed by the rule that the defendant may recover fees and costs only when the claim was frivolous. This decision holds that since the trial court must exercise its discretion, the prevailing defendant cannot claim costs by… Read More
A group representing the residents in the project area sued under the federal Fair Housing Act and California FEHA, claiming that the City's redevelopment plan for the area had a disparate impact on the mostly minority group residents because redevelopment would lead to gentrification, a rise in rents and the displacement of residents from the area. This decision holds that… Read More
Following Bank of America Corp. v. City of Miami (2017) 137 S.Ct. 1296, this decision holds that Oakland failed to allege facts showing its harm was proximately caused by Wells Fargo's alleged violation of the Fair Housing Act (42 USC 3613) by discriminating against Black and Hispanic borrowers, steering them to higher cost loans and loans with features that made… Read More
Plaintiff city sufficiently alleged standing to sue by averring that defendant banks' lending to African-Americans and Latinos on less favorable terms than white Anglos led to a tide of foreclosures in minority neighborhoods, lowering property values and thus the city's tax revenues while also requiring greater expenditures by the city to police and maintain the gutted neighborhoods; but further consideration… Read More
