| | Apartment Finance TodayUPFRONTHITS & MISSES Ruling Protects Developers From Fair Housing LawsuitsAPARTMENT FINANCE TODAY • June 2008
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reaffirmed that the right to sue over design-and-construction violations of the Fair Housing Act expires two years after a project's completion. The court said that plaintiffs intent on suing multifamily developers for allegedly violating Fair Housing Act requirements confused a continuing violation with the continuing effects of a past violation, and that a failure to design and construct in accordance with the act's accessibility requirements was not an indefinitely continuing practice but instead a discrete instance of discrimination that ended when design and construction were complete. Without a clearly defined start date for the statute of limitations, argued lawyer Joshua Reisman, current and past owners of multifamily projects, including apartments and condominiums, as well as architects, engineers, and contractors involved in them, would be exposed to perpetual liability. Further, he said that potential liability would affect financing and insurance for future developments.
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