Landlord Avoids FHA Suit Over Tenant-on-Tenant Racial Harassment

A New York landlord defeated a suit claiming he was liable under the Fair Housing Act for the racial discrimination one tenant experienced at the hands of another, in a ruling by the en banc Second Circuit.

Donahue Francis, who is Black, and Raymond Endres were next-door neighbors. But Endres repeatedly called Francis a racial slur and threatened to kill him, the court said.

Francis regularly complained to their landlord, Kings Park Manor Inc., but it did nothing, the court said. He called the police several times, and Endres was eventually arrested, pleaded guilty to a harassment charge, and moved, ...