Leslie v. The Corcoran Group

Background

Gayle Leslie and Michael Jackson sued Craig Hollander and The Corcoran Group over alleged discrimination connected to their application to lease an apartment. The amended complaint asserted federal race-discrimination claims under the Fair Housing Act and 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981–1982, along with income-discrimination claims under the New York City Human Rights Law and New York State Human Rights Law.

The defendants jointly moved for summary judgment on all claims. Summary judgment is a decision without a trial when the record shows that no genuine dispute requiring a trial remains. The defendants argued that the federal race-discrimination claims failed under the legal framework used to evaluate discrimination claims. The plaintiffs did not respond to those arguments or the supporting evidence; they addressed only their state and city income-discrimination claims.

Ruling

The court held that the plaintiffs had abandoned their federal race-discrimination claims. It treated the defendants’ supported statements and arguments that the plaintiffs did not dispute at the summary-judgment stage as admitted. The court therefore granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants on the Fair Housing Act claim and the claims under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981 and 1982.

After resolving the federal claims, the court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction, meaning authority to decide related state-law claims in the same case, over the remaining New York City and New York State claims. Those claims were dismissed without prejudice to refiling in state court. The Clerk was directed to close the motion docket entry and the case.