On April 28, 2009, Jesus and Antonia Arreola testified in front of the Senate Public Safety Committee in support of SB 239, which would make mortgage fraud a felony.  The Arreolas are plaintiffs in Garvin, et al. v. Tran, et al., Case No. C07-CV-01571.  They are two of thirteen plaintiffs in the case, and one of hundreds of families that were victimized by their real estate agent, mortgage brokers, and a hard-money lender.  The Arreolas testified through an interpreter, staff attorney Jessica Fry, and their testimony begins just after the first hour.

Click here to view the testimony.

Click here to view press release from Senator Fran Pavley.

On November 7, 2008, FHLP Outreach Coordinator Nuemi Guzman appeared on the radio show “Hablando de Casas ” to discuss predatory lending in the real estate field.  The show, hosted by Robert Aldana, was conducted in Spanish to reach a particularly vulnerable population of home owners – monolingual Spanish speakers.

In an effort to prevent foreclosure rescue scams FHLP has developed an informative Public Service Announcement for those who are behind on their mortgage payments, which is currently being aired on over 20 radio stations.

Click here to listen to the PSA.

Recent Settlements

• HIV-Positive Resident of Board and Care Home Compensated for Discriminatory Termination of Residency

Our HIV-positive client, who also has mental health disabilities, resided in a licensed board and care home in order to receive assistance with the administration of his psychiatric medications.  After the board and care’s operators found out that he was HIV-positive, they immediately asked his case manager to find alternate housing for him, stating that they wanted him to move out because of his HIV diagnosis.  As a result of the board and care’s ultimatum for our client to find new housing because of his HIV diagnosis, our client’s mother became very distressed about her son’s imminent loss of housing.  Telephone testing by Project Sentinel confirmed that the board and care’s operators would accept residents with a wide variety of different disabilities, but not HIV or AIDS.  After FHLP filed a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of the resident, his mother and Project Sentinel, the board and care operators settled the case for a sum of $30,000 and agreed to undergo fair housing training and change their policies to be in compliance with the fair housing laws. 

Case Name: Ramirez et al. v. Cayabyab, C07-05670 HRL

• Resolution of Lawsuit Involving Property Insurance and In-Home Child Care Operations

In July 2006, Bree and Micah Kuyat decided that, in order to best care for their growing family and continue earning income, Ms. Kuyat would leave her employment and begin working as a licensed family child care operator at their rented home in Morgan Hill, California.  Upon giving notice of their intent to operate a small family child care home, the property management company ordered them to immediately cease all daycare operations because the owners’ provider of fire insurance on the house would discontinue providing fire insurance coverage if family child care operations were conducted on the premises.  As a result of this notice, the Kuyats moved out of their home and into inferior housing.

In July 2008, the Kuyats filed a putative class action lawsuit against the owners’ insurer alleging that, in failing to extend an insured’s fire insurance coverage to a rental property where a tenant was operating a small family daycare, it violated California and federal fair housing laws by creating a disparate negative impact on women and families with children.  In addition, the Kuyats alleged that the insurer violated California Health and Safety Code section 1597.40, which prohibits placing restrictions relating to the use of dwellings for family child care homes, and California Insurance Code sections 676 and 676.1, which prohibit insurance companies from cancelling certain types of policies except in specified circumstances, or cancelling or not renewing a homeowners insurance policy because of the operation of a family child care home on the property.   

The insurer denied any wrongdoing and denied that its fire insurance policy violated California laws.  However, to settle the Kuyats’ claims, the insurer and its affiliated companies agreed to change their underwriting rules regarding fire insurance policies and no longer decline to issue or refuse to renew a fire insurance policy solely due to the fact that a licensed family child care home was being operated out of the property insured under the policy.  In addition, the insurer agreed to compensate the Kuyats with $36,000 for alleged losses.

Case Name: Kuyat v. USAA Casualty Insurance Company, C08-03448 RS (N.D. Cal) Counsel for Plaintiffs: Fair Housing Law Project & Public Interest Law Firm (Programs of the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley – San Jose, California) and Child Care Law Center (San Francisco, California).

• A homeowners’ association and three former members of its board of directors have agreed to pay $125,000 to settle claims that they discriminated against Latinos and families with children

The plaintiffs, all Spanish-speaking families with children, alleged that the association and the board members made discriminatory statements about Latinos and called them racist names.  In addition, the plaintiffs alleged that the association and the board members improperly restricted where children could play, prohibited children from playing without adult supervision and levied monetary penalties after falsely accusing children of causing damage to the grounds of the development.

In addition to paying $125,000 to settle all claims, the three individual director defendants agreed to never again hold director positions in the homeowners’ association.  The new board of directors has completed fair housing training, has distributed information on the fair housing laws to all members of the homeowners’ association and has implemented non-discrimination policies. 

• Trailer Park Cannot Discriminate Against Children

A family with a little girl attempted to rent a trailer as a temporary home while their house was being built.  The trailer park did not allow children as long term residents and charged extra for children staying short term.  trailer agreed to change their policies, attend training, and pay $32,000 in compensatory damages to the family and Project Sentinel.  Plaintiffs’ attorney fee petition will be submitted for determination by the court.

• A Latino Couple Given a Better Loan

A Spanish-speaking couple was tricked into a loan with hidden ters and fees.  The boker and lender agreed to get the couple a 30-year fixed loan at a low interest rate with the prinicple reduced by $35,000, plus defendants paid $40,000 in damages and attorney fees.  Defendants also absorbed approximately $15,000 in costs and agreed to policy changes and training.

• Day Care Discrimination Victim Compensated

Operator of in-home licensed day care sought a new home to rent.  Several landlords refused to rent to her when they learned she operated a day care.  The landlords' policies were confirmed through testing by Projet Sentinel.  Two cases resulted in litigation and settlement, for a combined recovery of $24,500.  Both landlords agreed not to discriminate against day care providers in the future. 

• Access for Mobile Home Resident Using Wheelchair

A man who needs a wheelchair because of a severe seizure disorder lives in a mobile home park.  He was unable to leave his space because of the high speed bumps recently installed in the park’s roadways.  Through FHLP’s advocacy, the management shortened the speed bumps to allow him to travel in his wheelchair.  Now he can access the common park facilities, pick up his mail, and visit other residents.

• Couple Targeted for Predatory Home Loan, Settlement for $250,000  A monolingual Spanish-speaking couple was solicited at a flea market and told that they could afford to buy a house.  They were lied to about the terms of the loan and their signatures were forged on certain documents.  The case resolved with the brokers agreeing to attend training about fair lending laws and all defendants paying a total of $250,000 in compensatory damages and attorney fees.

• Elderly Woman Receives Her Home Back and Financial Compensation  An elderly woman was victimized by a “foreclosure rescue” scam.  She wanted to refinance her home, but instead ended up signing over her home and becoming a tenant.  When she could not afford the exorbitant “rent,” she was evicted.  After more than a year of litigation, the woman has received the deed to her home back, plus financial compensation and attorney fees totaling $250,000.

          For more settlements click HERE.

                                          Last Updated August 2009