Halfway Day - April 16, 2008

Other than officially living through half of the week, there was nothing particularly interesting today. After my first class of the day, I had a meeting with the Law Fraternity Executive Board to discuss our vision and goals. We were all on the very same page, and agreed that the last year was a failure for the organization. It was obvious we need to do a lot of work.

After the meeting, I had stupid class. After the hour of annoyance had ceased, I went to relax in the student lounge. After sitting in the lounge for around ten minutes, the outgoing Student Bar Association Vice President walked into the lounge. He walked towards me and said, “H, you are Jewish, right?”

I replied in the affirmative. He asked if I had a few minutes to spare. Once again, I told him that I had extra time in my life. I was told that one more Jewish male was needed to complete a Minion. I obliged the request, and found myself a California Reform Jew enabling a very Orthodox New York group of men to take part in prayer.

I was very lost the great majority of time, as they were seemingly speed reading. The rapid rate of prayer allowed the Minion to occur and let the great majority of the guys make it to class on time.

After the Minion, I went back to studying and reading. I am not often upset or noticeably infuriated about the things I read in legal textbooks, as most of the findings and teachings are reasonable. One case was an exception. It ruined what was left of my day.

The case was: Hill v. Community of Damien of Molokai (for those of you in need of a citation, that is: 121 N.M. 353). The case, according to Lexis Nexis, was first heard in the District Court of Bernalillo County (New Mexico) where it was held that the use of certain property by defendant organization as a group home for individuals with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome violated a housing development covenant, which limited the use of lots to single-family residences, and that enforcing the restrictive covenant did not violate the Federal Fair Housing Act (FHA), 42 U.S.C.S. §§ 3601-3631. The organization appealed.

The lower court found that the increased traffic due to the presence of the group home had detrimentally altered the character of the neighborhood and that plaintiff neighbors, who sought enforcement of the covenant, had no discriminatory intent. The Appeals Court reversed and held that the term "family" was ambiguous and that because the group home was designed to provide the individuals who lived there with a traditional family structure, setting, and atmosphere, the use complied with the covenant. The court noted that the strong governmental policy that encouraged locating group homes in single-family residential areas further justified an expansive interpretation of the term "family." The court held that even in the absence of discriminatory intent, enforcement of the covenant violated the FHA because it had a disparate impact upon the handicapped, who required congregate living arrangements in order to live in a residential community. Finally, the expansive interpretation of the covenants was a reasonable accommodation required by the FHA. However, the denial of attorney's fees to the organization was justified in light of the neighbors' nondiscriminatory intent.

Basically, the AIDS group home won the case. For this I was happy. There was an obvious element of discrimination involved. The actions of the neighbors were upsetting, but not grossly shocking.

At the end of the case, there are usually problems, explanations or notes. The very first note after this case described the unending harassment the neighbors commenced against the dying inhabitants of the group home. The note described harassment that went so far into the appalling that I had to take a break from reading. Once, as one of the AIDS-stricken tenants was being rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, one of the neighbors gathered their entire family on their front lawn, opened a bottle of champagne and toasted the ambulance as it drove by.

This was but one example of the constant barrage of harassment suffered by the tenants. It rose to a level where the group home moved to another location to get away from the neighbors.

It is hard to believe that people actually act like that.

And that was my day.