Opinion ID: 670488
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Jury instructions on agency

Text: 56 Even if submitting the question of agency to the jury was not error, there may have been error in the jury finding of agency if the court improperly instructed the jury as to the law of agency. Jakabovitz contends that Judge Spatt erred by declining to give an instruction the landlords had requested as to scope of authority. Jakabovitz joined Breitman in excepting to Judge Spatt's refusal to give the following instruction which Breitman had requested: 57 [I]f you find that AM Realty was the agent of Mr. Breitman, but you find that he did not authorize AM Realty to engage in any wrongful act in which AM Realty may have engaged, then you also must find for Mr. Breitman. 58 Judge Spatt properly declined to give this instruction because it misstated the law. Breitman and Jakabovitz did not have to authorize AM Realty specifically to discriminate in order to be liable for that discrimination. See Chicago v. Matchmaker Real Estate Sales Center, Inc., 982 F.2d 1086, 1096 (7th Cir.1992) (holding real estate brokerage firm liable for racial steering of its agents even though firm had explicitly instructed agents not to discriminate), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 2961, 125 L.Ed.2d 662 (1993); Northside Realty, 605 F.2d at 1354 (holding that president and vice-president of brokerage could be held liable for discriminatory acts of their agents, whether or not [they] directed or authorized the particular discriminatory acts that occurred). A principal is often subject to liability for the unauthorized conduct of an agent with respect to matters which, under the agreement creating the relation, he has a right to direct. Restatement (Second) of Agency Sec. 216 cmt. a (1958). Here, it was beyond dispute that the landlords had a right to control the criteria used by the brokers in selecting which prospective tenants would be shown Jakabovitz's and Breitman's apartments. One commentator has explained that the law imposes liability in such cases because [i]t would be too easy for the broker or owner to plead ignorance when an agent was caught and it would be unfair to only punish a manager or agent for what the owner or employer should have controlled and trained the employee to avoid. James A. Kushner, Fair Housing Sec. 4.22 at 255 (1983). The agency instructions were not erroneous. 59