Colorado Anti-Discrimination Commission v. Case

380 P.2d 34, 151 Colo. 235, 1962 Colo. LEXIS 276
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado
DecidedDecember 17, 1962
Docket19988
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 380 P.2d 34 (Colorado Anti-Discrimination Commission v. Case) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Colorado Anti-Discrimination Commission v. Case, 380 P.2d 34, 151 Colo. 235, 1962 Colo. LEXIS 276 (Colo. 1962).

Opinions

Mr. Justice Moore

delivered the opinion of the Court.

The issues to be determined by this Court are raised by the original parties to the proceedings before the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Commission. James R. and Elizabeth O. Rhone, to whom we will refer as the Rhones or complainants, filed a complaint before said commission against J. L. Case and Company in which it was alleged, inter alia:

“1. That Respondent has violated the Colorado Fair Housing Act of 1959 by refusing to sell certain real estate property located at 1609 Kingsley Drive, Colorado Springs, Colorado, to the Complainants because they are Negroes.
“2. That on or about September 10, 1959, Respondent and Complainants agreed upon terms of purchase and sale of said property.
“3. That on or about September 10, 1959, Respondent accepted Complainants’ promissory note in the amount of Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) as down payment to bind the contract of purchase and sale; and that the said promissory note for Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) was redeemed on or about September 12, 1959, by Complainants’ personal check.
“4. That subsequent to the execution of said contract for the purchase and sale of said property Respondent endeavored to persuade Complainants to withdraw their offer to purchase said property.
“5. That on or about September 14, 1959, Respondent [238]*238told Complainants that said property had been sold to another purchaser.”

This complaint was filed September 18, 1959. Twenty-five days thereafter Nelson Merrell and Reuben M. Stovern were made additional respondents by the filing of an amendment to the original complaint. This amendment contained the following allegations:

“1. That Nelson Merrell and Reuben M. Stovern, whose business address is 29 East Platte Avenue, Colorado Springs, Colorado, and who are engaged in the business of selling real estate for the J. L. Case and Company, Realtor, who is named as Respondent in the original part of the complaint, did aid and abet said Respondent in his refusal to sell the property located at 1609 Kingsley Drive, Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Complainants, although said Complainants had made a bonafide offer to purchase said property on terms and at a price specified by Nelson Merrell, because they are Negroes.
“2. That Nelson Merrell endeavored to coerce Complainants to withdraw their offer to purchase the said property at 1609 Kingsley Drive, Colorado Springs, Colorado, by methods of persuasion and coercion.
“3. That Reuben M. Stovern purchased the said property at 1609 Kingsley Drive, Colorado Springs, Colorado, on September 14, 1959, for less money than Complainants had offered for it and at a time when Complainants’ offer to purchase, together with their check for Five Hundred D'ollars ($500.00), was on file in the J. L. Case and Company, Realtor, office.
“4. That at no time prior to the transfer of the property to Reuben M. Stovern did Respondent, or anyone from his office, notify Complainants, nor indicate to them in any manner, that their offer was not acceptable.”

The complaint as amended was based on an alleged [239]*239violation of the Colorado Fair Housing Act of 1959 which provides in pertinent part:

“(1) (a) It shall be an unfair housing practice and unlawful and hereby prohibited:
(b) For any person having the right of ownership, or possession, or the right of transfer, rental, or lease of any housing: To refuse to transfer, rent, or lease, or otherwise to deny to or withhold from any person or persons such housing because of race, creed, color, sex, national origin or ancestry; to discriminate against any person because of race, creed, color, sex, national origin, or ancestry in the terms, conditions, or privileges pertaining to any housing, or the transfer, rental, or lease thereof, or in the furnishing of facilities or services in connection therewith; * * *
“(f) For any person to aid, abet, incite, compel, or coerce the doing of any act defined in this section as an unfair housing practice; or to obstruct or prevent any person from complying with the provisions of this article or any order issued thereunder or to attempt either directly or indirectly to commit any act defined in this section to be an unfair housing practice.”

By C.R.S. ’53, 69-7-3 (c) the term “Housing” as used in the Act does not include “premises maintained by the owner or lessee as the household of his family with or without domestic servants and not more than four boarders or lodgers.”

Respondents filed separate answers in which they denied the allegations of the complaint as to acts violative of the statute. It was also asserted by them that the statute upon which the action was based, 69-7-1 to 7, “is in whole or in part contrary to the Constitution of the State of Colorado and contrary to the Constitution of the United States of America.”

A hearing was held by the commission at Colorado Springs, March 14, 1960, and thereafter “Findings of [240]*240Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Order” were entered. The findings of fact were detailed and specific with reference to the conduct of each of the respondents. For purposes of this opinion suffice it to say that the disputed questions of fact were resolved against the respondents and the commission concluded, inter alia:

“10. That the respondent, J. L. Case, discriminated against the complainants because of their race or color in connection with the transfer of the home in question; that such discrimination constituted an unfair housing practice as defined in Section 5 (1) (a) (ii), of said Colorado Fair Housing Act of 1959.
“11. That the respondents, Nelson Merrell and Reuben M. Stovern, aided or abetted the respondent, J. L. Case, in discriminating against the complainants because of their race or color in connection with the transfer of the home in question; that such aiding or abetting constituted an unfair housing practice as defined in Section 5 (1) (e), of said Colorado Fair Housing Act of 1959.”

The commission ordered that respondents “cease and desist from committing the aforesaid unfair housing practices.” To “further effectuate the purposes” of the statute it was ordered by the commission:

“2. That the respondent, J. L. Case, doing business as J. L. Case and Company, Realtor, from the homes listed with him in his capacity as a licensed real estate broker, shall afford to these complainants the opportunity of purchasing a comparable home as the home in question in the same general neighborhood or a comparable neighborhood in Colorado Springs, Colorado, as the neighborhood in question, and under the same terms and conditions as such a home would be offered to any other person.
“3. That the respondent, J. L. Case, doing business as J. L. Case and Company, Realtor, inform the Coordinator of the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Commission within thirty days from the date of this Order, and at [241]*241thirty-day intervals thereafter, concerning the manner in which he has complied with this order.
“4. That the respondent, J. L. Case, doing business as J.

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Colorado Anti-Discrimination Commission v. Case
380 P.2d 34 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1962)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
380 P.2d 34, 151 Colo. 235, 1962 Colo. LEXIS 276, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/colorado-anti-discrimination-commission-v-case-colo-1962.