Admittedly there are always two sides to every story. This is why we have the American judicial system to get to the resolution of a matter as decided by the “trier of fact,” be it the judge or jury, after hearing from both the accuser and the accused (or in civil terms, hearing from the plaintiff and defendant). In most civil cases a plaintiff only needs to prove that a particular event was more likely than not to have occurred. This is referred to as a “preponderance of the evidence” standard of proof, meaning that a majority of the evidence favors the plaintiff’s position. But, before the parties can get to that stage, the plaintiff first must sufficiently allege a cause of action against the defendant. If not, then the plaintiff’s lawsuit is subject to being dismissed. Well, that is exactly what happened in the recent federal appellate case of Watts v. Joggers Run Property Owners Association, Inc., 133 F.4th 1032 (11th Cir. 2025), in which the plaintiff, Watts, appealed the dismissal of her case in its entirety by the lower court, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
In the underlying action, Watts alleged Joggers Run of taking unlawful actions against her, her family, and her guests due to their race and brought claims against Joggers Run under both the Fair Housing Act and the Civil Rights Act. Watts accused Joggers Run of selectively enforcing its rules pertaining to parking, pets, yard sales, and penalty fees against her and her family but not against non-Black residents. She accused the association’s president of referring to Black people as “monkeys” and another director of using derogatory, race-based comments. She alleged that she was limited to three minutes when addressing the board, but other non-Black owners were not so limited; and when she complained about this, somehow the board stripped her of her board membership without any notice to her. She alleged that the association denied her children use of the basketball courts because a director complained about there being noisy Black kids and “too many people of color” using the basketball courts. She alleged that the association accused her Black guest of trespassing and vandalizing cars. Other discriminatory practices were alleged in the lawsuit as well.
Joggers Run moved to dismiss the entire complaint for failure to raise any cognizable claim under both the Fair Housing Act and the Civil Rights Act. The lower district court granted that motion. While the lower court found that the alleged conduct of Joggers Run was reprehensible, it nevertheless ruled that none of Watts’s allegations could support her statutory claims and dismissed the lawsuit. Watts then appealed the dismissal to the U.S. Court of Appeals of the Eleventh Circuit, which ultimately reversed the lower court’s dismissal and remanded the parties back to the lower court for further
proceedings.
The standard of review employed by the Appellate Court is, in this instance, de novo, meaning the Appellate Court reviews the matter as if it were being considered for the first time, allowing for a new analysis of the facts and law involved. The Appellate Court noted that to withstand a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, the plaintiff’s complaint must include enough facts to state a claim for relief that is plausible on its face. The plaintiff must allege more than mere conclusions and formulaic recitations of the elements of a cause of action. But, however, in Fair Housing Act discrimination cases, the Appellate Court recognized that it can be difficult to define the precise formulation of a required prima facie case before the process of discovery has an opportunity to unearth all the relevant facts and evidence. That said, the allegations in the complaint should be judged by the required statutory elements.
The Appellate Court began its discussion with a brief history and the importance of the Fair Housing Act. As found by a bipartisan committee appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, national fair housing laws were necessary to end evident and profoundly divisive housing discrimination. In response, Congress passed the Fair Housing Act in 1968 to provide for fair housing within the United States; and in Sections 1981 and 1982 of the Civil Rights Act, Congress provided that all Americans, regardless of race, are entitled to equal contract and property rights.
While the Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful to discriminate against any person in the terms, conditions, or privileges of the sale or rental of a dwelling or in the provision of services or facilities in connection therewith because of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, or national origin, Congress did not provide a list as to what these “terms, conditions, and privileges” actually are. Later, through adoption of regulations by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under the Fair Housing Act, we learn that access to communal spaces is within the scope of “terms, conditions, and privileges” of the sale or rental of a dwelling and that limiting the use of such privileges because of race would be a violation of the Fair Housing Act. In other words, when a person enters into an enforceable agreement for the purchase of property that includes a mandatory obligation to be a member of a homeowners’ association, then discrimination is prohibited as related to any of the privileges, services, and facilities afforded by membership in the homeowners’ association. The Appellate Court found that Watt’s complaint sufficiently alleged that she was denied equal access and treatment because of her race by Joggers Run.
In examining whether Watts had sufficient allegations to withstand the motion to dismiss regarding the Civil Rights Act, the Appellate Court found that it only needed to “initially identify an impaired contractual relationship under which Watts had rights.” The Appellate Court found, “The HOA rules created an enforceable contract that governed the residence rights and responsibilities and benefits of membership.” Because Watts alleged that the HOA violated its own rules and regulations by allowing non-Black residents to violate the rules and regulations while enforcing the rules and regulations against her and her family due to their race, Watts plausibly alleged that the contractual relationship was violated by Joggers Run in contravention of its own rules and regulations, which was sufficient to bring such a lawsuit. In fact, the United States Supreme Court broadly construes the Civil Rights Act to protect not merely the enforceability of property interest acquired by Black citizens but also their right to use property on an equal basis with White citizens.
Watts alleged that the Joggers Run created a dual property system where White owners could fully enjoy the amenities’ common areas and services while Watts, as a Black resident, could not. In conclusion the Appellate Court found that Watts’s complaint presented plausible claims for relief under the Fair Housing Act and under the relevant sections of the Civil Rights Act. Therefore, the case was reinstated and remanded back to the lower court for further proceedings.
Given that the facts of the case have yet to be tried in court, whether racial discrimination occurred against Watts remains to be heard and determined by the trier of fact. All that we know for the time being is that Watts has sufficiently stated her complaint to make a primary showing of discrimination, but whether it actually occurred or not will have to be decided later after all relevant evidence and testimony is reviewed by the trier of fact.
Reviewing the alleged facts in a light most favorable to and as presented by Watts, it certainly seems as though discrimination may have occurred. However, could Joggers Run have accomplished the car towing, the closing of the basketball court, and its other actions in a lawful, non-discriminatory manner? The short answer is, “likely so,” if it had equally enforced its rules and regulations against all owners and followed the required procedures. Had Joggers Run equally enforced its rules and regulations and followed the required procedures, then Watts’s claims could have failed.
Regardless of equal enforcement, making disparaging comments regarding any member’s race, color, religion, sex, familial status, or national origin is not only fundamentally wrong but also sets the stage for all the board members’ acts to be judged with those racially charged comments in mind. To make such comments as a board member could be, if proven true, fatal to the association’s position. Had the Joggers Run board members not made racially motivated comments, if it did as alleged by Watts, and had they engaged the association’s attorney to provide important and necessary guidance, then in all likelihood this entire fiasco could have been avoided.