Name: Tennessee Tenants Take the Lead: A Public Interest Affirmative Housing Litigation Tool
Start: 2026-08-27T08:30:00-0700
End: 2026-08-27T10:00:00-0700

Tennessee Tenants Take the Lead: A Public Interest Affirmative Housing Litigation Tool

Thursday August 27, 2026 8:30am - 10:00am PDT

Embassy Suites- Cambridge B

Overwhelmingly with housing cases, tenants and their attorneys are caught playing defense, and the options are limited. We hope to keep people housed as much as possible and if not, negotiate a move that doesn't impact their future housing health. It can be a bleak business of small wins and minimizing damage, but the task of investing in sustained affirmative litigation poses significant cost and capacity challenges. The PI Affirmative Housing Litigation Toolkit offers a solution on both fronts. The online resource will be accessible to all public interest attorneys and provides start to finish guide to litigation in five areas of housing related law: 1983, Habitability, the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act, the False Claims Act, and the Fair Housing Act. Each area of law includes six individual sections focusing on law, investigation, strategy, filing, settlement, and trial. There are practical references like outlines and citation banks and templates for complaints and discovery forms, as well tools for understanding the FOIA request processes, partnering with media outlets, supporting plaintiffs through the long process of civil litigation, and preparing for trial. In a sense, the Toolkit is a crash course in potentially unfamiliar areas of law, and a plug and play handbook for further housing advocacy. Our hope is that helping to expand the ways in which public interest housing attorneys can represent our clients will ultimately advance housing justice in Tennessee.

Speakers

Maggie Behringer

A Chattanooga native, Maggie Behringer went to law school to study housing law and work with the unhoused. Maggie graduated magna cum laude from Mount Holyoke College and earned a master's in fine arts from West Virginia University. She received her J.D. from Loyola Law School in... Read More →

830 10 Behringer Affirmative Litigation Toolkit EJU Presentation pdf

Thursday August 27, 2026 8:30am - 10:00am PDT
Embassy Suites- Cambridge B

Equal Justice University 2026

Maggie Behringer

Attendees (8)

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Equal Justice University 2026

Maggie Behringer

Attendees (8)

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