Bryan v. Commonwealth

404 A.2d 1368, 45 Pa. Commw. 125, 1979 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 1890
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedAugust 16, 1979
DocketAppeal, No. 740 C.D. 1978
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 404 A.2d 1368 (Bryan v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bryan v. Commonwealth, 404 A.2d 1368, 45 Pa. Commw. 125, 1979 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 1890 (Pa. Ct. App. 1979).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge Craig,

This appeal is from a final order of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (commission), which concluded that appellant Arnold J. Bryan, general partner in Waterview, a limited partnership, had committed a discriminatory practice in violation of Section 5(h) (1) of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, Act of October 27, 1955, P.L. 744, as amended, 43 P.S. §955(h)(l), (Act), by withholding housing information on the basis of race. Section 5(h)(1) of the Act provides:

It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice. . . .
(h) for any person to:
(1) refuse to sell, lease, finance or otherwise to deny or withhold commercial housing from any person because of the race, color, or religious creed, ancestry, sex or national origin of any prospective owner, occupant or user of such commercial housing, ....

[128]*128This Court specifically held in Tomlinson Agency v. Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, 11 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 227, 312 A.2d 118, that Section 5 (h) (1) of the Act was intended to prohibit the withholding of information on housing availability because of race.

Our review is limited to a determination of whether the commission’s adjudication is in accordance with the law and whether the findings of fact supporting its conclusions are based on substantial evidence. Chester Housing Authority v. Human Relations Commission, 9 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 415, 305 A.2d 751 (1973).

The complaint ensued from a housing compliance • test which occurred at appellant’s business premises on February 3, 1975. The commission found that at 2:05 p.m. on that date, Ms. Lowenstein, a white female investigator, was told by appellant’s rental agent, Mrs. Martorana, that a two-bedroom apartment would be available in March at $225 per month plus electricity. Ms. Lowenstein was shown around the rental office which served as a sample two-bedroom apartment. Further, Mrs. Martorana gave Ms. Lowenstein her business card.

At approximately 2:16 p.m. on the same date, Ms. Burke, a black female commission investigator, approached the rental office to inquire if there was a one or two-bedroom apartment available. Mrs. Martorana cursorily advised her that there was nothing available. The record also indicates that Ms. Burke was not invited into the rental office but was held at the partially opened door.

Finally, at 3:30 p.m. on the same day, Mr. Harnick, a white male commission investigator making a like inquiry, was told by Mrs. Martorana that apartment Q-ll (a two-bedroom apartment) was immediately available for $225 per month plus electricity. Mrs. [129]*129Martorana gave Mr. Harnick a key to inspect the apartment and a business card.1

The complaint charged that the discrepancies in the information given to the testers were based on race.

After attempts at conciliation had failed, a two-day hearing was held before a panel of hearing commissioners. The full commission adopted the findings of fact, conclusions of law and opinion of the hearing panel.

Appellant alleges that four of the commission’s findings of fact are not supported by substantial evidence.

First, we agree that the commission’s second finding, identifying the business as “Arnold J. Bryan, T/A Waterview Apartments,” is incorrect. The commission’s records and order should be corrected to read: “Arnold J. Bryan and Bernard Morgan, trading as Waterview Limited Partnership.” Apparently, this characterization of the business is not in dispute.

Secondly, the record fully supports the commission’s fourth finding that appellant’s agent, Mrs. Martorana, began her employment on October 17, 1974.

Next, appellant contends that also unsupported is the commission’s eighth finding that:

At approximately 2:16 p.m., February 3, 1975, Eileen Burke, a black female and a Commission investigator, approached Mrs. Martorana’s office and inquired if there was a one or two bedroom apartment available.

[130]*130Appellant claims that this finding is clearly erroneous because Mrs. Martorana unequivocally testified that she remembered such a visit to her rental office, but that it occurred sometime between 12:15 p.m. and 1:15 p.m. Appellant’s claim is that Ms. Burke, the black investigator, actually arrived before either of the two white testers visited the rental office and before apartment Q-ll became available for immediate rental.

The commission’s finding is supported by substantial evidence. Ms. Burke, a seasoned commission investigator with the experience of many housing tests behind her, testified in detail regarding the chronology of events on February 3, 1975. Further, the Housing Supervisor for the Philadelphia Regional Office of the commission explained that investigators immediately transcribe their experiences onto an official record on the completion of a housing test.

On the other hand, Mrs. Martorana testified that the events of February 3, 1975 were hectic and that a theft which had occurred on the premises in the late morning of that day added to her confusion.

The fundamental issue here is whether the commission properly found, upon substantial evidence, that appellant’s agent provided different treatment regarding the availability of rental units and courtesies of the rental office to a black person from that provided to two white persons.

Appellant alleges that the commission erred as a matter of law in finding a violation of the Act because several elements of the violation were not established.

Appellant maintains that the occurrence of a discriminatory act (and therefore a violation) was not shown because testers’ manufactured experiences, standing alone, cannot establish the existence of a discriminatory practice. According to appellant, in the words of the Act, there was no denial of information to a “prospective owner, user or occupant.”

[131]*131Also appellant claims that there is no prima facie case where there is no proof that any commercial rental housing was actually available at the time that the black tester was deprived of such information.

The case law clearly establishes that the commission has the burden to prove a violation of Section 5(h)(1). Previous cases also indicate that evidence obtained through a two-tester test, without more, is not the substantial evidence required to carry the burden of proving a violation under the Act. J. Howard Brandt, Inc. v. Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, 15 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 123, 324 A.2d 840 (1974); Tomlinson, supra.

However, there is dictum in Brandt, supra, that on a “properly proven set of circumstances” a violation could be established even if factually there was no commercial housing available and the “prospect” was a tester. Brandt, supra, at 131, 324 A.2d at 843.

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Bluebook (online)
404 A.2d 1368, 45 Pa. Commw. 125, 1979 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 1890, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bryan-v-commonwealth-pacommwct-1979.