On January 12, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it had denied certiorari in a case challenging a 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that addressed issues under the Fair Housing Act, including standards for equitable tolling, disparate impact, and causation in discrimination claims.
The petition argued that the 2nd Circuit split from other circuits by adopting a “fairness-based” approach to equitable tolling in mortgage discrimination claims without requiring plaintiffs to show diligence. This, in turn, allowed disparate impact claims to proceed based on lending practices that had an “adverse or disproportionate” effect on one racial group rather than requiring proof of a disproportionate effect compared to other groups, and treating the “robust causality” requirement outlined in a separate case as non-binding.
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