Manal Farhan v. 2715 NMA LLC (2025)

Citation: Manal Farhan v. 2715 NMA LLC (2025)
Parent Document: Manal Farhan v. 2715 NMA LLC (2025)
Jurisdiction: United States (federal)
Effective Date: 2025-12-04
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10747698/manal-farhan-v-2715-nma-llc/ ↗

Full Text

1,833 chars

In early November 2023, the building’s property manager
called Farhan and told her that the building had received a
complaint about the flag. The property manager explained
that “because there is a conflict [in Gaza], we want to stay
neutral.” According to this purported “neutrality” policy, ten-
ants were also required to remain neutral in the conflict and
Farhan was instructed to remove her flag. Farhan then in-
formed the property manager that she was Palestinian and
that she was flying the flag to “express love and pride in her
heritage.” But the property manager stated that was “unac-
ceptable” and if Farhan refused to remain neutral, she would
be evicted.
    Farhan did not remove the flag and, nine days later, re-
ceived a ten-day notice of termination of her tenancy. The no-
tice stated that she had violated a provision of her lease in
how she displayed her flag (by partially hanging it outside
her window). But Farhan claims this reason was pretextual,
as the property manager had previously told Farhan that she
would not be permitted to fly the flag even if it was com-
pletely inside her window.
    Farhan asserts that other tenants in the building displayed
flags and artwork in their windows in the same or a substan-
tially similar manner as the Palestinian flag in Farhan’s win-
dow. And on information and belief, none of those tenants re-
ceived notices of termination. She does not, however, claim
that other tenants were able to display flags or symbols relat-
ing to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
     Farhan filed this case in Cook County Circuit Court in De-
cember 2023, alleging that defendants violated the FHA, the
Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices
Act, and the Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant
4                                                     No. 24-1532

Other Sections in This Document (43)

Full Text