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A 10-year-old lawsuit over racial discrimination in Baltimore public housing is returning to court after the parties failed to negotiate on how to desegregate. U.S. District Judge Marvin Garbis ruled in January that desegregation should be accomplished by spreading the poor across the region, but he didn't say how that would be done. He referred the case to a magistrate judge to oversee an out-of-court settlement. However, Garbis rescinded his referral late Wednesday. He said the magistrate judge had advised the court that "not all of the parties were willing to engage in a substantial discussion" and meaningful negotiation had not occurred. The lawsuit was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union against the Baltimore Housing Authority and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in 1995. In an interview, Magistrate Judge James K. Bredar declined to identify the party that he said had not fully participated in the settlement talks. Garbis set a pretrial conference for Thursday. The failed negotiations could mean another trial would decide remedies that could involve providing chances for black public housing residents to move to the suburbs. Mayor Martin O'Malley and leaders from several counties have spoken against any remedy that would involve the possible movement of city public housing residents to the suburbs. Andrew D. Freeman, an attorney working with the ACLU on the case, blamed failed talks on HUD and attorneys for the Justice Department, which is representing the federal housing agency. "HUD and the Justice Department have indicated they are not interested in settling the case," Freeman told The (Baltimore) Sun. [more] and [more] and [more]