Opinion ID: 554897
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Offensive to Good Taste

Text: 48 Indecent, vulgar, suggestive or other advertising that, in the opinion of The Times, may be offensive to good taste. 49 This list is not intended to include all the types of advertisements unacceptable to The Times. Generally speaking, any other advertising that may cause financial loss to the reader, or injury to his health, or loss of his confidence in reputable advertising and ethical business practices is unacceptable. 50 Given that this extensive monitoring--for purposes that are both numerous and often quite vague--is routinely performed, it strains credulity beyond the breaking point to assert that monitoring ads for racial messages imposes an unconstitutional burden. 51 Moreover, the Times's argument is a policy argument that, if accepted, would undermine other civil rights laws. For example, the Times is prohibited by Title VII from discriminating on the basis of race in employment. See 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-2 (1988). It thus must monitor those of its employees with the power to hire and fire. Given the intangible and unquantifiable factors that legitimately may be taken into account in employment decisions, Section 3604(c) seems to us to impose a lesser burden of compliance than Title VII. 52 We do view one of the Times's arguments with a degree of sympathy, although it does not affect the outcome. The individual plaintiffs seek compensatory and punitive damages for emotional injury resulting from the ads in question, and the Times is fearful that such claims from a multitude of plaintiffs might lead to a large number of staggering, perhaps crushing, damage awards that might over time impair the press's role in society. The problem is that a claimant may establish a prima facie case for such damages simply by oral testimony that he or she is a newspaper reader of a race different from the models used and was substantially insulted and distressed by a certain ad. The potential for large numbers of truly baseless claims for emotional injury thus exists, and there appears to be no ready device, other than wholly speculative judgments as to credibility, to separate the genuine from the baseless. However, we do not regard this possibility as a reason to immunize publishers from any liability under Section 3604(c), including injunctive relief. Rather, it is reason to assert judicial control over the size of damage awards for emotional injury in individual cases. Where the claim of an illegal racial preference is based solely upon the use of models and not upon more directly offensive racial messages, we are confident that courts will be able to keep such awards within reason. 53 Accordingly, the judgment of the district court is affirmed.