What damages must be proven by a tenant in discrimination cases?
Damages in fair housing cases include economic injuries (i.e. out-of-pocket expenses incurred as a result of the discrimination), emotional distress, and loss of civil rights. Courts are also authorized to award punitive damages if the housing provider has acted out of a careless disregard or indifference to the complainant s rights. In one case, the housing provider s discrimination forced the applicant to prolong her search for housing. Therefore, the court held the housing provider liable for the time that the applicant lost from work and expenses incurred in her attempts to locate another residence. In determining the amount of compensatory damages to award, the court begins with the proposition that a person denied housing through illegal discrimination has suffered a substantial injury to the basic rights of citizenship a right considered so valuable that damages are presumed without proof of actual damages. In one federal case, the court ruled that out-of-pocket expenses and com
