Black Couple Files Lawsuit Against Appraiser, Claiming Racial Discrimination

A black couple out of California have filed a lawsuit against an appraiser for racial discrimination.

Paul Austin and his wife, Tenisha Tate-Austin, refinanced their Marin City home in 2019 and it valued over $1.4.

In 2020 the couple decided to jump on the opportunity to refinance their home after all the upgrades and renovations they made to the home.

This time the house appraisal was only for $995,000 which was 487,500 cheaper that the prior year.

The couple then asked one of their white friends to pretend to be them during the appraisal. They even went so far as to take down all family photos and art work.

At this time the appraiser valued their home at $1,482,500.

The couple filed a fair housing lawsuit this week against appraiser Janette Miller, her firm Miller and Perotti Real Estate Appraisers Inc., and national appraisal company AMC Links LLC.

In their lawsuit, the Austins claim the first appraiser, Janette Miller, who is a White woman, violated the Fair Housing Act when she took the family’s race and the racial demographics of the house’s location for her appraisal into account.

The Austins are asking for financial damages and asked the court to “permanently” ensure that the defendants won’t engage in discriminatory housing practices directly or through others.