Judge dismisses discrimination suit against state
A federal judge has ruled with the Nebraska Health and Human Services System and the owners of Chadron mobile home park in a civil lawsuit that alleged they provided substandard housing to Native tenants based on race.
High Plains Community Development had asked for relief and compensatory and punitive damages in the U.S. District Court case filed in Lincoln in June 2007.
Besides state health officials, the lawsuit named as defendants Terry Hinn, Marilyn (Hinn) Hays and Hinn’s Mobile Homes.
High Plains named a woman as an alleged victim and sought an injunction to order HHSS to cease alleged discriminatory enforcement practices allowing Natives to live in decrepit housing.
It also accused HHSS of violating federal and state fair housing regulations by failing to revoke the permit of the owners of the mobile home park at Fifth and Maple streets in Chadron.
According to the lawsuit, many of the homes are overcrowded, infested with rats and snakes and contain substandard plumbing, including water pipes attached to units by garden hoses and had exterior problems.
The defendants asked for the case to be dismissed, challenging High Plains standing to bring the action.
In an 11-page order issued Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Laurie Smith Camp sided with them and dismissed the allegations.
She said the agency had failed to show that any of the defendants named in the suit had impaired its ability to provide counseling and referral services to its clients or its mission of facilitating fair housing.
“Neither has High Plains presented evidence that it devoted significant resources to identify and counteract the defendants’ allegedly unlawful practices, not that it suffered distinct and palpable injuries traceable to the defendants’ actions,” Smith Camp said in her order.
She dismissed two causes of action alleging violations of the federal Fair Housing Act and two alleging violations of the Nebraska Fair Housing Act.
The first were dismissed with prejudice, baring future action. The later two could be refiled.
High Plains Community Development had asked for relief and compensatory and punitive damages in the U.S. District Court case filed in Lincoln in June 2007.
Besides state health officials, the lawsuit named as defendants Terry Hinn, Marilyn (Hinn) Hays and Hinn’s Mobile Homes.
High Plains named a woman as an alleged victim and sought an injunction to order HHSS to cease alleged discriminatory enforcement practices allowing Natives to live in decrepit housing.
It also accused HHSS of violating federal and state fair housing regulations by failing to revoke the permit of the owners of the mobile home park at Fifth and Maple streets in Chadron.
According to the lawsuit, many of the homes are overcrowded, infested with rats and snakes and contain substandard plumbing, including water pipes attached to units by garden hoses and had exterior problems.
The defendants asked for the case to be dismissed, challenging High Plains standing to bring the action.
In an 11-page order issued Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Laurie Smith Camp sided with them and dismissed the allegations.
She said the agency had failed to show that any of the defendants named in the suit had impaired its ability to provide counseling and referral services to its clients or its mission of facilitating fair housing.
“Neither has High Plains presented evidence that it devoted significant resources to identify and counteract the defendants’ allegedly unlawful practices, not that it suffered distinct and palpable injuries traceable to the defendants’ actions,” Smith Camp said in her order.
She dismissed two causes of action alleging violations of the federal Fair Housing Act and two alleging violations of the Nebraska Fair Housing Act.
The first were dismissed with prejudice, baring future action. The later two could be refiled.
Copyright © 2002-2008 Lincoln Journal Star. All rights reserved.