Patrick O. Ojo v. Farmers Group, Inc.
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
600 F.3d 1205 (2010)
Ojo (plaintiff), a Texas homeowner, sued Farmers (defendant) on behalf of a class of minority homeowners, alleging Farmers's undisclosed credit-scoring factors disparately impacted minorities' ability to obtain homeowner's insurance in violation of the Fair Housing Act (FHA); the district court dismissed, finding the FHA reverse-preempted by the Texas Insurance Code under the McCarran-Ferguson Act, a three-judge Ninth Circuit panel reversed, and the case was rehead en banc.
Whether the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits racially discriminatory denial or pricing of homeowner's insurance, is reverse-preempted by state insurance law if the FHA invalidates, impairs, or supersedes that state law.