Laufman v. Oakley Building and Loan Co., 408 F. Supp. 489 (S.D. Ohio 1976)
In February of 1976, Federal Judge David S. Porter of the Western Division of the Southern District of Ohio handed down a decision which significantly affects home financing organizations in this country. The ruling in
Laufman v. Oakley Building and Loan Co., marked the first federal court decision on redlining, that is, refusal to make mortgage loans on residential property in a racially transitional neighborhood, regardless of the prospective borrower\u27s creditworthiness or the condition of the borrower\u27s property. Judge Porter held that redlining is illegal under the Civil Rights Act of 1968.
The purpose of Title VIII of the 1968 Civil Rights Act, better known as the Fair Housing Act, is clearly expressed in the legislation\u27s first sentence: It is the policy of the United States to provide, within constitutional limitations, for fair housing throughout the United States
