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Carmen D. Caruso has experience in the defense of businesses and property owners against civil rights claims, including:
-- A successful defense of suburban Chicago apartment building owners against a claim of racial discrimination brought by a tenant, who claimed that she was being
harassed by the local police in cooperation with building management; when in fact, the building managers had alerted police to suspicious activity in the apartment, and on investigation, the police determined that the apartment was frequently being visited by a known member of a violent Chicago Street Gang. This case called into question the extent to which apartment building owners can protect themselves against gang infiltration without violating the civil rights of any tenants. This case was won by the development of evidence that the tenant had made false representations to the building in her lease application as to her income level. This, in turn, supported the reasonableness of management's suspicions based on traffic to the apartment.
Following his success in the above defense, Mr. Caruso was invited to join a panel of attorneys affiliated with the Leadership Council of Metropolitan Open Communities, a leading Chicago area civil rights organization, and he accepted pro bono cases involving alleged occupancy discrimination violations on behalf of deserving tenants.
He has also represented Hispanic business owners in zoning disputes in Chicago suburbs, and he has represented African-American business owners in claims of discrimination by managers of a suburban mall; and in the denial of a franchise opportunity.
Mr. Caruso also accepts select claims of employment discrimination, and has won a significant federal appellate court victory that shatters the glass ceiling.
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