Long Island Landowner To Scrap Rule Allowing Only Those Of German Ancestry To Buy Homes In Community & Agrees To Cough Up $175K To Settle Fair Housing Lawsuit

In Yaphank, New York, the New York Law Journal reports:

• A couple suing a Long Island property owner over discriminatory housing policies have reached a settlement requiring the owner to scrap a policy that gave preference to people with German backgrounds.
  
  After unsuccessfully trying to sell their Yaphank home for years, Philip Kneer and his wife, Patricia Flynn-Kneer, sued the German-American Settlement League, which owns the underlying land and rents lots to league members, who own their homes.
  
  The Kneers said the league's rules, such as making membership primarily open to people "of German extraction and of good character and reputation," breached laws such as the federal Fair Housing Act.
  
  The New York Times quoted the league president in October as saying that previous efforts to change the "antiquated" rules had been unsuccessful.
  
  Under the agreement [], the league would discard its old constitution and by-laws and adopt a new one declaring membership open to all backgrounds. Long Island Housing Services, a co-plaintiff, will monitor board minutes and membership applications for four years.
  
  The case, Long Island Housing Services v. German-American Settlement League, 15-cv-05987, is before Eastern District Judge Joan Azrack, who must approve the pact.
  
  Diane Houk, of counsel at Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady, and O. Andrew Wilson, a partner, represented the plaintiffs.
  
  The league will pay the firm and the plaintiffs $175,000 in damages and fees. The agreement does not say how much will go to the lawyers.
  
  Christo Hadjicharalambous, an associate at Milber Makris Plousadis & Seiden in Woodbury, represented the German-American Settlement League. He declined to comment.

Source: LI Property Owner Agrees to Housing Bias Settlement (may require subscription; if no subscription, go here - then click appropriate link for the story). nazi