An appeals court turned back the city of Oakland’s attempt to prove that Wells Fargo’s predatory loan practices for Black and Latino customers shortchanged the city of property-tax revenues and inflated municipal expenditures.

In an en banc decision Tuesday from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, a panel found that Oakland failed to demonstrate Wells Fargo was liable for lost property-tax revenue resulting from discriminatory loans, which led to increased default and foreclosure rates that drove down property values. The court ruled the Fair Housing Act does not support proximate cause for injuries so far downstream from the alleged violation.