Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/444/143/340944/
Timestamp: 2017-11-20 15:22:20
Document Index: 557014845

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1982', '§ 242', '§ 1982', '§ 1982', '§ 1982', '§ 3612', '§ 1981']

Johnnie Ray Lee, Plaintiff-appellant, v. Southern Home Sites Corp., Defendant-appellee, 444 F.2d 143 (5th Cir. 1971) :: Justia
Justia › US Law › Case Law › Federal Courts › Courts of Appeals › Fifth Circuit › 1971 › Johnnie Ray Lee, Plaintiff-appellant, v. Southern Home Sites Corp., Defendant-appellee
Johnnie Ray Lee, Plaintiff-appellant, v. Southern Home Sites Corp., Defendant-appellee, 444 F.2d 143 (5th Cir. 1971)
US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit - 444 F.2d 143 (5th Cir. 1971)
June 17, 1968, the Supreme Court decided Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co., 392 U.S. 409, 88 S. Ct. 2186, 20 L. Ed. 2d 1189, holding that 42 U.S.C. § 1982 barred private racial discrimination in the sale of housing and that federal courts should fashion an effective remedy to enforce the rights declared by Congress in the statute. July 30, 1968, Southern Home Sites Corporation, a Mississippi company engaged in real estate development, sent a form letter to Lee offering to sell him for $49.50 in cash a lot said to be worth $600.
Nevertheless, the Court, relying on a long line of federal cases, held that federal courts have a duty to fashion an effective remedy to carry out the purpose of the statute. As the Court had said in J. I. Case Co. v. Borak, 1964, 377 U.S. 426, 433, 84 S. Ct. 1555, 1560, 12 L. Ed. 2d 423, 428:
The recent case of Mills v. Electric Auto-Lite Co., 1970, 396 U.S. 375, 90 S. Ct. 616, 24 L. Ed. 2d 593, demonstrates that it is proper for federal courts to award attorney's fees when this remedy effectuates congressional policy. In Mills the Court extended the established rule allowing recovery of attorney's fees in derivative actions. The plaintiff had sued derivately on behalf of the corporation, seeking to undo a merger of his corporation into another corporation. He alleged that the directors had obtained proxies favoring the merger by use of a material misrepresentation in the proxy solicitation. Recognizing the strong congressional policy favoring " [f]air corporate suffrage [as] an important right," the Court held in part that those who establish a violation of the securities laws by their corporation and its officials should be reimbursed by the corporation for the costs of establishing the violation, including attorney's fees.
This Court-created remedy was justified as necessary to further the "corporate therapeutics" called for in Congress' strong policy favoring fair and informed corporate suffrage. The Court reasoned that the situation was not too different from the typical derivative action, where it is appropriate for the corporation to pay the attorney's fees because the corporation receives a benefit from the suit. But the benefit that the Court focused on is conferred on all shareholders in the country, and therefore established derivative action considerations do not seem to apply to the situation. Therefore the Court's decision is better understood as resting heavily on its acknowledgment of "overriding considerations," that private suits are necessary to effectuate congressional policy and that awards of attorney's fees are necessary to encourage private litigants to initiate such suits. See Note, The Supreme Court, 1969 Term, 84 Harv. L. Rev. 1, 216-17 (1970); Note, The Allocation of Attorney's Fees After Mills v. Electric Auto-Lite Co., 38 U. Chi. L. Rev. 316, 323-28 (1971).
Mills does not signal that courts have a free hand in adopting awards of attorney's fees as remedies to enforce all statutes. In Fleishman Distilling Corp. v. Maier Brewing Co., 1967, 386 U.S. 714, 87 S. Ct. 1404, 18 L. Ed. 2d 475, the Court struck down the practice of awarding such fees in patent cases. But there the Court relied on the detailed legislation covering judicial remedies available to plaintiffs, including compensatory and treble damages, in finding that the statute implicitly excluded a separate award for attorney's fees.
Cong. Globe, 39th Cong., 1st Sess. 1295. The act was passed with the criminal provisions included. Later the penal provisions were separated or eliminated. The remaining criminal statute derived from the 1866 Act, 18 U.S.C. § 242, applies only to actions "under color of law". The Supreme Court said in Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co., 392 U.S. at 417, 88 S. Ct. at 2191, that against private discrimination § 1982 is today "enforceable only by private parties acting on their own initiative".
The Supreme Court has held that the Fair Housing Law did not amend § 1982. Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co., 392 U.S. at 417 n. 20, 88 S. Ct. at 2191. On the other hand, in fashioning an effective remedy for the rights declared by Congress one hundred years ago, courts should look not only to the policy of the enacting Congress but also to the policy embodied in closely related legislation. Courts work interstitially in an area such as this.
In Newman v. Piggie Park Enterprises, 1968, 390 U.S. 400, 88 S. Ct. 964, 19 L. Ed. 2d 1263, the Court discussed the standard for awarding attorney's fees under 42 U.S.C. 2000a-3(b) of the Public Accommodations section of the 1964 Act. The Court found that the Act embodied a strong congressional policy and that private litigation was envisioned as the major means of securing broad compliance with the law. "A Title II suit is thus private in form only. * * * If [the individual litigant] obtains an injunction, he does so not for himself alone but also as a `private attorney general', vindicating a policy that Congress considered of the highest priority." Damages are unavailable under Title II. Therefore " [i]f successful plaintiffs were routinely forced to bear their own attorneys' fees, few aggrieved parties would be in a position to advance the public interest by invoking the injunctive powers of the federal courts." The statutory provision for attorney's fees was designed to encourage those subjected to discrimination to seek judicial relief and therefore courts should award fees to successful plaintiffs "unless special circumstances would render such an award unjust." Other courts have applied the Piggie Park rule to Title VII cases. See Lea v. Cone Mills Corp., 4 Cir. 1971, 438 F.2d 86;3 Parham v. Southwestern Bell Telephone Co., 8 Cir. 1970, 433 F.2d 421; Clark v. American Marine Corp., E.D. La. 1969, 304 F. Supp. 603 and 1970, 320 F. Supp. 709. It would seem that the same rule should apply to the provision for attorney's fees in Title VIII cases subject to the statutory proviso concerning plaintiff's financial ability to assume the fees. Since under Title VIII damages — both compensatory and punitive — are also available, a court awarding such damages might consider this factor in determining whether and how much to award.
We think the factors relied on in Piggie Park in interpreting the provision for awarding attorney's fees apply also to suits under § 1982. The policy against discrimination in the sale or rental of property is equally strong. The statute, under present judicial development, depends entirely on private enforcement. Although damages may be available, see Sullivan v. Little Hunting Park, 1969, 396 U.S. 229, 90 S. Ct. 400, 24 L. Ed. 2d 386, in many cases there may be no damages or damages difficult to prove. To ensure that individual litigants are willing to act as "private attorneys general" to effectuate the public purposes of the statute, attorney's fees should be as available as under 42 U.S.C. § 3612(c).
Courts dealing with 42 U.S.C. § 1981 in the wake of Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co. have held that this section has equally broad, though previously unrecognized, force See, e. g., Young v. International Telephone & Telegraph Co., 3 Cir. 1971, 438 F.2d 757.