In a major Fair Housing decision, on September 28, the US District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a lawsuit filed against Post Properties for alleged violations of the Fair Housing Act’s accessibility requirements.  The suit was filed by the Equal Rights Center (ERC), a non-profit civil rights organization that has previously sued several large apartment owners.

The court ruled that ERC lacked standing to bring the lawsuit because any injuries the organization suffered were due to its own decision to investigate Post and were thus self-inflicted.

The lawsuit, which was filed in November 2006, alleged that 58 of Post's properties are not accessible or usable.  In

April 2007, the court rejected a request by ERC to block Post from selling any of the contested properties until litigation was resolved. 

In that ruling the court said that ERC had failed to prove the likelihood of success on the merits and further noted that the standards to which ERC sought to hold Post “do not constitute mandatory requirements upon builders, and, although compliance with the (Safe harbors) are sufficient to satisfy the FHA’s requirements, they are not the ‘exclusive means of doing so.’”

As in any lower court decision, the ERC may appeal the ruling.  In addition, the Department of Justice, which filed a brief in support of the ERC, can also bring suit against any apartment firm that it believes has violated the Fair Housing Act or the Americans with Disabilities Act.