Opinion ID: 752967
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Educational Injury

Text: 72 As explained above, the courts interpreting Havens agree that the diversion of resources to educational programs is sufficient to impart Article III standing. See, e.g., Spann, 899 F.2d at 27. A concrete drain on time and resources is sufficient to satisfy Article III's injury in fact requirement. Spann, 899 F.2d at 29. An identifiable trifle of this type of injury will suffice to confer standing upon the FHC. 2 United States v. Students Challenging Regulatory Agency Procedures, 412 U.S. 669, 689 n. 14, 93 S.Ct. 2405, 2417 n. 14, 37 L.Ed.2d 254 (1973) (rejecting the argument that standing should be limited to those significantly injured, and ruling that any level of injury is sufficient to confer standing). Accordingly, to demonstrate educational injury, the FHC must only raise a genuine issue of material fact that its plan to educate the real estate industry and consumers will be a concrete and demonstrable drain on its resources, and that such education is necessary to counter the illegal housing advertisements. 73 The FHC has presented sufficient evidence of injury to compel my conclusion that Montgomery Newspapers is not entitled to judgment as a matter of law. James Berry, the executive director of the FHC, described the campaign by which the FHC will attempt to educate real estate professionals. Berry also stated that the FHC will have to spend almost $100,000 in newspaper advertising to counter Montgomery News' discriminatory messages. Jan Chadwick, Assistant Director of the FHC, explained that the FHC has formulated an educational plan that would educate both the public and the industry what the proper Fair Housing laws are ... to reverse the damages [caused by discrimination] in the whole region, specifically families with children. This explanation mirrors FHC's allegation that 74 each act of discrimination conducted in the Delaware Valley causes a setback to the good work accomplished by the FHC's educational and outreach efforts and to the development of an integrated housing community. As a result, the FHC must launch further efforts to undo the damage that the discrimination has caused.(Pl.'s Am. Comp. p 10.) The FHC also prepared a detailed plan entitled Appellants' Statement of Proposed Education-Repair Campaign. The purpose of the plan is to reach, among others, consumers, housing providers, and real estate professionals to counteract advertisements that leave readers believing that it is legal to turn away families with children. The Proposed Plan explains what the FHC alleges: a large-scale educational campaign is necessary because the continued publication of illegal advertisements causes an overwhelming misunderstanding about the Act. The Plan is specific to the extent that it contains sample advertisements to be placed in Montgomery Newspapers, the frequency of planned publication, a proposed budget for executing the Plan, and details of educational efforts other than newspaper advertisements. 75 The majority states that the only evidence relating to the educational effort produced by the FHC was an allegation that, at some future time, it would be required to spend almost $100,000 in newspaper advertising and more than $300,000 in seminars and mailings to reach consumers to counter the advertisements' discriminatory message. This statement is incorrect, based on the substantial record evidence.
76 The majority's conclusion crumbles upon examination of the entire Proposed Plan and explanations of the FHC staff, discussed above. By focusing only on the necessity to educate home seekers and consumers, the majority overlooks an entire segment of the FHC's mission: to educate publishers and housing providers. Montgomery Newspapers published discriminatory ads, which itself demonstrates that housing providers and the newspaper do not understand the terms of the Fair Housing Act. Because the FHC aims to ensure compliance by education, it must now divert resources to redress that damage. Thus, I am compelled to conclude that the FHC has suffered the requisite identifiable trifle of injury to its educational programs. 77 The FHC has demonstrated that its educational plan is a necessary response to correct the discriminatory advertisements published by Montgomery Newspapers. The Proposed Plan explains that, among others, real estate professionals are ignorant of the family status provisions of the Fair Housing Act. Advertisements that contain comments such as no children or pets, and professional male need only apply exemplify this ignorance. The FHC intends to reach consumers to explain the Fair Housing Act. However, the majority fails to recognize that the FHC also plans to explain Fair Housing Act compliance to housing providers and real estate professionals, who place and read advertisements in Montgomery Newspapers and perpetuate discriminatory advertising. 78 The majority suggests that the FHC would have satisfied standing requirements if it could show that home seekers have actually been barred from housing, deterred from seeking housing, or formed a misimpression about housing availability as a result of the advertisements published in the Montgomery Newspapers. This is simply incorrect. An aggrieved home seeker is not necessary to show a violation of section 3604. Housing providers and newspapers violate 42 U.S.C. § 3604(c) upon publication. The Fair Housing Act expressly empowers organizations like the FHC to enforce its provisions without joining a home seeker as a co-plaintiff, 42 U.S.C. §§ 3602, 3613, in the federal district courts, 42 U.S.C. § 3613(a)(1)(A), to seek the award of actual or punitive damages or the grant of permanent or temporary injunctive relief. 42 U.S.C. § 3613(c)(1).
79 The FHC has successfully adduced facts to show concrete injury that is certainly impending, as required by Lujan, 504 U.S. at 564, 112 S.Ct. at 2138. The majority concludes that the FHC would be injured if it already implemented the educational program. This is not correct. The cases are legion supporting a conclusion that the FHC is not required to actually pay for the advertising campaign before it can assert standing. See, e.g., Pennell v. City of San Jose, 485 U.S. 1, 8, 108 S.Ct. 849, 855, 99 L.Ed.2d 1 (1988) (holding that because it is not unduly speculative to conclude that the ordinance at issue will be enforced against members of the Association, this is a sufficient threat of actual injury to satisfy Article III); Babbitt v. Farm Workers, 442 U.S. 289, 298, 99 S.Ct. 2301, 2308, 60 L.Ed.2d 895 (1979) (A plaintiff who challenges a statute must demonstrate a realistic danger of sustaining a direct injury as a result of the statute's operation or enforcement.); Duke Power Co. v. Carolina Envtl. Study Group, 438 U.S. 59, 98 S.Ct. 2620, 57 L.Ed.2d 595 (1978) (Plaintiff alleged that, if constructed, the power plant's operation would cause the emission of radiation. The Court held that the plaintiff's alleged injury was sufficiently concrete to confer standing.); Pennsylvania v. West Virginia, 262 U.S. 553, 593, 43 S.Ct. 658, 663, 67 L.Ed. 1117 (1923) ([O]ne does not have to await the consummation of threatened injury to obtain preventive relief. If the injury is certainly impending, that is enough.); Roe v. Operation Rescue, 919 F.2d 857, 864-65 (3d Cir.1990) (holding that clinics not actually blockaded by defendant organization had standing because the threat that defendants would blockade the clinics in the future was real and immediate); Public Interest Research Group, Inc. v. Powell Duffryn, 913 F.2d 64, 71 (3d Cir.1990) (plaintiffs' asserted injury, that they would use the water for boating and aesthetic enjoyment if it was not polluted, was sufficient to confer standing, even though they had not used the water in its polluted state). 80 The FHC also satisfies Lujan by setting forth concrete plans for its educational program. The majority categorizes the FHC plan as the some day intentions prohibited by Lujan, 504 U.S. at 560-61, 112 S.Ct. at 2138, and suggests that the FHC has proffered no concrete plans or specifications as to when the plans will be carried out. I disagree. In Lujan, the Supreme Court suggested that had the plaintiffs actually purchased a plane ticket, their plans to observe the endangered species would not be some-day intentions. Id. Here, the plan submitted by the FHC is more extensive and expensive than the mere plane ticket in Lujan. 81 Moreover, the majority's conclusion is at odds with the Supreme Court's holding in Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Dev. Corp., wherein mere blueprints and building plans were sufficient to confer standing on a non-profit housing organization. 429 U.S. 252, 261, 97 S.Ct. 555, 561, 50 L.Ed.2d 450 (1977). The housing organization in Arlington Heights planned to build low income housing to further its interest in making low cost housing available in areas where it was scarce, but its plans were thwarted when the local government denied its zoning request. The Court held that the organization's plans to build, and its related goals, were not an abstract concern and provided the essential dimension of specificity required to determine standing at trial. Id. at 263, 97 S.Ct. at 562. The situation of the FHC is analogous. The FHC plans to educate the public that discrimination based on familial status is illegal. That plan is equally specific and detailed, and therefore sufficient to confer standing.