FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Candice Francis / Communications Director, LCCR /  415.543.9697 x216 / cfrancis@lccr.com
Putting an end to a four year dispute, the City of Antioch agreed to a settlement in Williams v. Antioch, a Lawyers’ Committee class action civil rights lawsuit brought by five African American women on October 25. The suit accused the City of Antioch and its police department of engaging in a concerted campaign of intimidation, harassment and discrimination against African American families who get federal assistance with their rent through the Section 8 program. In the settlement, the city agrees that it will not focus on African American Section 8 recipients in its policing efforts, except when race is used to identify a specific suspect in a crime. The settlement also provides for federal court oversight for three years. The plaintiffs were represented by the Impact Fund, Public Advocates Inc., Lawyers’ Committee and the ACLU of Northern California, with pro bono assistance from Covington & Burling LLP and Bingham McCutchen LLP. The lawsuit sought injunctive relief, in the form of a court order forbidding the City of Antioch from engaging in these discriminatory and unlawful practices.