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Soules v. United States Department of Housing and Urban Development

967 F.2d 817 (1992)

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Soules v. United States Department of Housing and Urban Development

United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
967 F.2d 817 (1992)

DD

Facts

Sherry Soules (plaintiff), a single woman with a 12-year-old daughter, sought to rent an apartment. The apartment was listed for rent by Mary Jean Downs (defendant), a real estate agent. When Soules called Downs to inquire about the apartment, Downs asked Soules how old her daughter was. Soules adopted a combative attitude, and Downs explained that she was attempting to determine whether Soules’s daughter was noisy. Although Downs refused to rent the apartment to Soules, she offered to rent the apartment to Ms. Perry, who also had a child under the age of 18. Subsequently, Soules filed suit, contending that Downs discriminated against her on the basis of familial status in violation of the Fair Housing Act (FHA). Due to the FHA’s prohibition against familial-status discrimination, an individual with a child under the age of 18 was a member of a protected class. The administrative-law judge (ALJ) dismissed Soules’s case. Soules appealed.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Meskill, J.)

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Housing Law

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