By Robert Helfand (August 31, 2017, 12:45 PM EDT) -- Two years ago, in Texas Dept. of Housing & Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project Inc., 135 S.Ct. 2507 (2015), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that defendants may be liable under the federal Fair Housing Act for actions that are otherwise lawful, and which have no discriminatory intent, but which nonetheless have a disproportionately adverse effect (a "disparate impact") on the housing rights of certain disadvantaged communities. Although the case clarified housing law in one respect, the questions of whether, and to what extent, disparate impact liability may be extended to insurers has continued to be litigated. Last week, in National Fair Housing Alliance v. Travelers Indemn. Co., No. 1:16-cv-00928-JDB (D.D.C. Aug. 21, 2017), a district court in Washington, D.C., became the third federal court to rule not only that insurers may be sued for disparate impact, but that they may be liable under the FHA for the disparate impact of someone else's conduct....