Update on Municipal Nuisance and Discrimination Litigation

Not since the round of municipal lawsuits against gun manufacturers six years ago have cities pursued such an aggressive campaign of litigation against private market players that have engaged in conduct -- they claim -- that has had devastating effects on the cities. The claimed public nuisance this time is not bullets and the associated personal trauma, medical, and justice system costs, but an alleged epidemic of foreclosures in urban neighborhoods in Baltimore, Birmingham, Buffalo, Cleveland, and elsewhere. This survey first discusses the wave of municipal lawsuits generally and analyzes in depth the City of Cleveland opinion and its wider importance, then analyzes the perfunctory order in the Baltimore case denying the defendants' motion to dismiss and allowing that case to proceed to discovery, and concludes by briefly noting other municipal suits in Buffalo, NY, and, of course, Birmingham, AL.