Fair Housing Cncl v. Main Line Times

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedMarch 31, 1998
Docket97-1169
StatusUnknown

This text of Fair Housing Cncl v. Main Line Times (Fair Housing Cncl v. Main Line Times) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Fair Housing Cncl v. Main Line Times, (3d Cir. 1998).

Opinion

Opinions of the United 1998 Decisions States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

3-31-1998

Fair Housing Cncl v. Main Line Times Precedential or Non-Precedential:

Docket 97-1169

Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/thirdcircuit_1998

Recommended Citation "Fair Housing Cncl v. Main Line Times" (1998). 1998 Decisions. Paper 61. http://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/thirdcircuit_1998/61

This decision is brought to you for free and open access by the Opinions of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit at Villanova University School of Law Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in 1998 Decisions by an authorized administrator of Villanova University School of Law Digital Repository. For more information, please contact Benjamin.Carlson@law.villanova.edu. Filed March 31, 1998

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

No. 97-1169

THE FAIR HOUSING COUNCIL OF SUBURBAN PHILADELPHIA, Appellant

v.

MAIN LINE TIMES; ACME NEWSPAPERS, INC.*

*Amended per Clerk's Order of April 9, 1997

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (D.C. Civ. No. 96-cv-01379)

Argued September 9, 1997

Before: MANSMANN and NYGAARD, Circuit Judges and BLOCH, District Judge.*

(Filed March 31, 1998)

Clifford A. Boardman, Esquire (ARGUED) Two Penn Center, Suite 1920 Philadelphia, PA 19102

Counsel for Appellant

_________________________________________________________________

*Honorable Alan N. Bloch of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, sitting by designation. Gregory M. Harvey, Esquire (ARGUED) Lisa A. Mathewson, Esquire Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP 2000 One Logan Square Philadelphia, PA 19103-6996

Counsel for Appellees

Elaine R. Jones Director-Counsel Norman J. Chachkin, Esquire David T. Goldberg, Esquire Paul K. Sonn, Esquire NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. 99 Hudson Street Suite 1600 New York, NY 10013

Judith A. Browne Peter F. Rundlet NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. 1275 K Street, N.W. Suite 301 Washington, DC 20005

Counsel for Amicus Curiae The NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc.

William G. Scarborough, Esquire Stradley, Ronon, Stevens & Young, LLP 2600 One Commerce Square Philadelphia, PA 19103

Karen L. Black, Esquire Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia 125 South Ninth Street Suite 700 Philadelphia, PA 19107

2 Counsel for Amicus Curiae Fair Housing Action, Fair Housing Council of Montgomery County, Fair Housing Council of Southern New Jersey, Fair Housing Partnership Of Greater Pittsburgh, Housing Consortium for Disabled Individuals, and Housing Council of York

John P. Relman, Esquire Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs 1300 19th Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20005

James R. Bird, Esquire Dona J. Martin, Esquire Timothy G. Lynch, Esquire Shea & Gardner 1800 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20036

Counsel for Amicus Curiae The National Fair Housing Alliance

OPINION OF THE COURT

MANSMANN, Circuit Judge.

In this action brought pursuant to the Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. S 3604, The Fair Housing Council of Suburban Philadelphia ("FHC") appeals an order of the district court granting a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict filed by Acme Newspapers, Inc. ("Acme"), its publication, The Main Line Times, and the paper's publisher. The district court granted this motion based on its conclusion that the FHC lacked standing under Article III of the United States Constitution to maintain this suit. Because we agree that the FHC failed to establish any "perceptible impairment" to its operation caused by the alleged discrimination and thus failed to satisfy the minimum standing requirements

3 embodied in Article III, we will affirm the order of the district court.

I.

The FHC, a fair housing group which has operated in the Philadelphia area for more than forty years, describes itself as a non-profit organization whose "purpose is to educate and promote fair housing and to oppose segregation based on the protected classes found in the Fair Housing Act of 1968, as amended."

On February 21, 1996, the FHC filed eleven lawsuits in federal court, nine of which charged various newspaper publishers and related defendants with violations of the Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. S 3604.1 In this suit, the FHC sought damages for injuries alleged to have been caused by real estate advertisements placed in the Main Line Times on a number of occasions during 1994 and 1995. In its complaint, the FHC alleged that:

On or about December, 1994 through at least November, 1995, defendants approved and published _________________________________________________________________

1. 42 U.S.C. S 3604(c) of the Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful:

To make, print, or publish, or cause to be made, printed, or published any notice, statement, or advertisement with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation, or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin or an intention to make any such preference, limitation, or discrimination.

The Act provides that "an aggrieved person may commence a civil action in an appropriate United States district court . . ..", S 3613(a)(1)(4), and defines an "aggrieved person" (including corporations and associations) as:

Any person who--

(1) claims to have been injured by a discriminator y housing practice; or

(2) believes that such person will be injured by a discriminatory housing practice that is about to occur.

Section 3602(I).

4 real estate advertisements that stated "no children," "three persons," as well as, upon information and belief, many other advertisements which indicated a preference or limitation on the basis of familial status.

The case was tried before a jury in December, 1996. At that time, five advertisements were at issue. These advertisements contained the following allegedly discriminatory phrases 1) "no children;" 2) "3 persons;" 3) "ideal for couple or professional single;" 4) "(for one person);" and 5) "(for one person)." At t he close of all the evidence, Acme and the other defendants filed a motion for judgment as a matter of law, pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 50. Acme contended that the FHC had failed to establish injury sufficient to satisfy the standing requirement imposed by Article III of the United States Constitution. The district court deferred ruling on this motion and submitted the case to the jury.

On December 4, 1996, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the FHC, awarding the FHC $25,000 in compensatory damages. On December 17, 1996, Acme renewed its Rule 50 motion, again arguing that the FHC lacked standing to pursue its claims under the Fair Housing Act. The district court granted this renewed motion on January 28, 1997, stating that it had"acted prematurely in submitting the case to the jury as[the FHC] did not have standing to bring any of the claims asserted in its Complaint." Fair Housing Council of Suburban Philadelphia v. Main Line Times, No. 96-1379, 1997 WL 30642 at *6 (E.D. Pa. Jan 27, 1997). This timely appeal followed.

II.

This appeal requires that we revisit, albeit in a different context, the identical issue raised in Fair Housing Council of Suburban Philadelphia v. Montgomery Newspapers, No. 97-1051 (3d Cir.

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