United States v. Warwick Mobile Homes Estates, Inc. And Thomas J. Lyttle

558 F.2d 194, 1977 U.S. App. LEXIS 12962
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedJune 13, 1977
Docket76-1901
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 558 F.2d 194 (United States v. Warwick Mobile Homes Estates, Inc. And Thomas J. Lyttle) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Warwick Mobile Homes Estates, Inc. And Thomas J. Lyttle, 558 F.2d 194, 1977 U.S. App. LEXIS 12962 (4th Cir. 1977).

Opinions

GLEN M. WILLIAMS, District Judge:

This is the second appeal by the United States in this case. The United States originally instituted this action pursuant to Section 813 of the Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3613, on February 20, 1974. The complaint alleged that defendants, Warwick Mobile Home Estates, Inc. and Thomas J. Lyttle, its President, had “pursued a policy and practice of discriminating against persons on the basis of race and color with respect to the sale or rental of dwellings” in violation of the Fair Housing Act. The United States sought relief in the form of a decree enjoining the defendants from committing further violations and requiring affirmative action to remedy the effects of the defendants’ past discriminatory policies and practices.

Trial was held on November 20, 1974. The district court concluded, in a memorandum opinion, that it found no evidence that defendants ever refused to rent trailer space to any black who met the eligibility [196]*196requirements of the park. The court did find, however, that the defendants did not want blacks and that park employees had been instructed to process the application of blacks differently from those submitted by whites. There was testimony of a former rental clerk, Mrs. Mosier, employed by Warwick from 1968 to 1971, that she was instructed to retain a stack of applications, some of which consisted of fictitious names, to display to black applicants to indicate that trailer space was unavailable. The district court thus ruled that the evidence was sufficient to .show a pattern and practice of resistance to renting to blacks, although the court noted that the .policies of resistance had changed recently, because Warwick had disposed of the trailer sales business.

Once the court found a discriminatory practice to exist, it had to decide what type of relief it would grant to the United States. In this connection, the defendants filed a motion on December 18,1974, asking the court to limit relief to the entry of a declaratory judgment and to refrain from issuing an injunction. On January 16,1975, in a second memorandum opinion, the district court found “no reason to believe that defendants will not fully comply with the law” and “no reason to issue an injunction.” The court characterized the violations of the Statute as very limited in nature, and stated that many of the refusals to rent trailer space resulted from the defendants’ desire to hold back spaces which could also be rented to one who purchased a trailer from defendants. Now that the defendants have disposed of the trailer sales business, the court added, “blacks are now permitted equal access to the trailer park.” (App. 149) Thereupon, the court entered judgment denying injunctive relief and the United States appealed.

In its decision, dated March 18, 1976, this court reversed the district court’s judgment refusing to grant the relief requested by the government and remanded the case with directions for the entry of injunctive relief. While this court ruled that there was sufficient evidence to support the trial judge’s conclusion that the pattern or practice of discrimination had recently changed, this court found that lingering vestiges'of discrimination remained which could only be eliminated through an injunction. On remand, the district court entered the decree proposed by the defendants, which stated that defendants have beén found to have engaged in a pattern or practice of resistance to equal housing opportunity. The decree permanently enjoins defendants from: refusing to show, sell, rent or negotiate for the sale or rental of, a dwelling, because of race or color; representing falsely that a dwelling is not available on account of race or color; discriminating in the terms, conditions, or privileges of sale or rental; and advertising discrimination based on race or color. Further, the court directs that the foregoing provisions be incorporated in a program of instructions to defendants’ employees, who would also be given a copy of the Fair Housing Act. Under the terms of the decree, the agents and employees of the defendants would be required to follow the above mentioned instructions and would be subject to disciplinary action for failure to comply with the decree. The decree also provides that the court shall retain jurisdiction for all purposes. While the District Court’s injunction does not specifically require the keeping of records, it is obvious that the court contemplated that Warwick would maintain records to prevent recurrent violations. The order reads as follows: “The defendant’s keeping of racial records for the purpose of complying with this decree shall not be considered discriminatory.”

The' appellant, United States, now complains that the district court committed error because it refused to enter the plaintiff’s proposed decree, which, in appellant’s view, contains better safeguards for preventing future violations and provides more adequate affirmative relief to correct the lingering effects of past discriminatory practices. The decree proposed by the United States provides, initially, for the same relief as defendants’ decree, but also seeks to impose on appellees numerous additional obligations. In addition to the relief [197]*197mentioned previously, appellant seeks to require Warwick to adopt and implement an extensive advertising program which includes, but is not limited to, the following: display of a fair housing poster; advertising through the media of the company’s policy of nondiscrimination as well as written notification of same to military installations in Warwick’s vicinity; and providing information to each person inquiring as to a mobile home purchase that lots will be made available at Warwick Mobile Home Estates. The plaintiff’s proposed decree also would require that defendants formulate written objective non-racial standards and criteria for the processing and approval of mobile home site applications, to be implemented without regard to subjective factors such as race or color. The plaintiff United States also demands that defendants submit a detailed report indicating steps taken toward implementing this decree’s provisions. This phase of the affirmative action program would place added responsibility on appellees to file periodic reports providing relevant information on all persons applying at Warwick and stating the reasons for approval or disapproval of their applications. Finally, the plaintiff’s proposed decree provides the United States with the opportunity to inspect and copy all records of the appellees relative to the rental of dwellings.

The only issue in this case is whether the district court failed to enter an appropriate decree that complied with this court’s prior order remanding the case for the entry of injunctive relief. In this connection, we are reminded that this court placed confidence in the district court to fashion relief designed to cure “the lingering vestiges of discrimination” at Warwick Mobile Home Park. The court is now convinced that the district court did not abuse its discretion by refusing to grant all of the injunctive relief requested by the appellant.

The primary purpose of an injunction in Fair Housing Act cases is to prevent future violations of the Act and to eliminate any possible recurrence of a discriminatory housing practice. Prior to granting injunctive relief, the court must determine that there exists some cognizable danger of recurrent violations.

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Bluebook (online)
558 F.2d 194, 1977 U.S. App. LEXIS 12962, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-warwick-mobile-homes-estates-inc-and-thomas-j-lyttle-ca4-1977.