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/ ↗

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opposing inferences.” 614 F.3d at 404. The majority errs in this
respect throughout; I highlight two particular instances.
    First, the majority says that because Farhan’s “only alleged
communication [with Defendants] regarding her Palestinian
heritage occurred after the building manager instructed her to
remove the flag,” Farhan hasn’t pleaded that Defendants
were aware of her Palestinian national origin before enforcing
the neutrality policy. Ante, at 10–11. Putting aside the fact that
Farhan does not need to allege that Defendants were aware of
her national origin at this stage of the case, see Swanson, 614
F.3d at 415, the majority misconstrues Farhan’s allegations.
The complaint states that Farhan informed the property man-
ager she was Palestinian before the manager gave her the final
ultimatum to take down the flag. Then, Defendants evicted
her after she refused to do so. These allegations allow the rea-
sonable inference that Defendants knew of Farhan’s identity
before the actions that gave rise to Farhan’s FHA claim, which
included not only the initial takedown notice but also the sub-
sequent ultimatum and eviction.
    Moreover, the majority improperly grants an inference in
favor of Defendants by assuming that they did not know Far-
han was Palestinian because the property manager was person-
ally unaware of Farhan’s national origin. But even if the prop-
erty manager did not personally know that Farhan was Pales-
tinian, that does not foreclose the possibility that Defendants
knew. And similarly, the fact that Farhan mentioned her iden-
tity during the conversation does not say anything about
whether anyone—the property manager or Defendants—
knew of her national origin before that conversation. Based
on her pleadings, it is reasonable to infer that Farhan’s
26                                                    No. 24-1532

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