Court Opinion

ID: 9494403
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 15:37:13.097897+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:56:23.772223
License: Public Domain

RICHARD S. ARNOLD, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
Under 42 U.S.C. § 1981, all persons in the United States have the same right “to make and enforce contracts.” 42 U.S.C. § 1981(a). In 1991, Congress amended the statute to explain that this clause includes the right to “the enjoyment of all benefits, privileges, terms, and conditions of the contractual relationship.” § 1981(b). Our job is to decide what rights are conferred by this statute.
The statute, in its entirety, reads as follows:
§ 1981. Equal rights under the law
(a) Statement of equal rights
All persons within the jurisdiction of the United States shall have the same right in every State and Territory to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, give evidence, and to the full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of persons and property as is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject to like punishment, pains, penalties, taxes, licenses, and ex-actions of every kind, and to no other.
(b) “Make and enforce contracts” defined
For purposes of this section, the term “make and enforce contracts” includes the making, performance, modification, and termination of contracts, and the enjoyment of all benefits, privileges, terms, and conditions of the contractual relationship.
(c) Protection against impairment
The rights protected by this section are protected against impairment by nongovernmental discrimination and impairment under color of State law.
42 U.S.C. § 1981.
The Court holds in this ease that a customer (Youngblood) who is detained by employees of a retail store (Hy-Vee) immediately after he has paid for a consumer item, who has that item taken from him by those employees, and who is not refunded the money with which he purchased the item — all of which events occur on the store premises — cannot maintain an action under § 1981 based on his right to enjoy the “benefits” of the contractual relationship. § 1981(b). The Court reasons that at the time of these events, no contract existed between Youngblood and Hy-Vee be*857cause the retail sale had been concluded.3
Underlying the Court’s reasoning is a narrow view of the scope of the contract right conferred by § 1981. There are several reasons to think that this view is too narrow, and that Congress actually conferred a more expansive right under the statute.
First, the language of the statute itself — particularly the detailed explanatory language of subsection (b) — is broad and inclusive. Subsections (b) and (c) of the statute are recent amendments that were enacted as part of the Civil Rights Act of 1991, Pub.L. 102-166, 105 Stat. 1071. By its terms, subsection (b) interprets § 1981’s “make and enforce contracts” clause to include “the making, performance, modification, and termination of contracts, and the enjoyment of all benefits, privileges, terms, and conditions of the contractual relationship.” § 1981(b). Moreover, the Act’s statement of purposes explicitly describes the Act as “expanding the scope of relevant civil rights statutes in order to provide adequate protection to victims of discrimination.” Civil Rights Act of 1991 § 3(4) (emphasis added). Therefore, as a matter of statutory construction, the “make and enforce contracts” clause is to be interpreted broadly.
Second, the legislative history of the recent amendments confirms what the statutory language implies — that Congress intended to broaden the scope of the contract right conferred by the statute. As the House Report to the Act indicates, “[t]he list set forth in subsection (b) is intended to be illustrative rather than exhaustive.” H.R.Rep. No. 40(1), 102d Cong., 1st Sess. 92 (1991), reprinted in 1991 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin. News 549, 630. Moreover, Congress passed subsection (b) specifically in response to the Supreme Court’s narrow construction of the “make and enforce contracts” clause in Patterson v. McLean Credit Union, 491 U.S. 164, 109 S.Ct. 2363, 105 L.Ed.2d 132 (1989). See Rivers v. Roadway Express, Inc., 511 U.S. 298, 114 S.Ct. 1510, 128 L.Ed.2d 274 (1994) (discussing amendment of § 1981). In Patterson, an employment discrimination case, the Court held that the clause did not provide employees with a cause of action for discrimination occurring after the formation of an employment contract. 491 U.S. at 171, 109 S.Ct. 2363. The House Report demonstrates Congress’s disagreement with such a limited reading of the statute. See H.R.Rep. No. 40(1), 102d Cong., 1st Sess. 92 (1991), reprinted in 1991 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 549, 630 (“The Committee ... finds that the Court’s interpretation [in Patterson ] of one of our most important federal civil rights laws [§ 1981] crippled the statute’s deterrent value.... As a consequence, the Committee concludes that there is a compelling need for legislation to overrule the Patterson decision and ensure that federal law prohibits all race discrimination in all phases of the contractual relationship.”). Accordingly, § 1981 now covers “all phases and incidents of the contractual relationship.” Rivers, 511 U.S. at 302, 114 S.Ct. 1510.
Third, civil rights legislation — such as § 1981, which is designed to address invid*858ious racial discrimination — is generally interpreted broadly in keeping with its remedial purpose. It is written in general language with the understanding that courts have wide latitude in construing it to achieve the remedial purposes that Congress identifies. See, e.g., Patterson, 491 U.S. at 171, 174, 109 S.Ct. 2363 (reaffirming Runyon v. McCrary, 427 U.S. 160, 96 S.Ct. 2586, 49 L.Ed.2d 415 (1976), and discussing “our society’s deep commitment to the eradication of discrimination based on a person’s race or the color of his or her skin”); Bob Jones University v. United States, 461 U.S. 574, 593, 103 S.Ct. 2017, 76 L.Ed.2d 157 (1983) (“[E]very pronouncement of this Court and myriad Acts of Congress and Executive Orders attest a firm national policy to prohibit racial segregation and discrimination.”); see also Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483, 74 S.Ct. 686, 98 L.Ed. 873 (1954); Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537, 559, 16 S.Ct. 1138, 41 L.Ed. 256 (1896) (Harlan, J., dissenting) (“The law regards man as man, and takes no account of his ... color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved.”). Failing to construe § 1981 liberally could remove certain racially discriminatory conduct — conduct that Congress intended to prohibit — from the purview of the statute.
Fourth, what case law there is on § 1981 is not inconsistent with a broad reading of the statute. The particular question at issue — the scope of the contract right conferred by the statute in the context of a retail sales contract — has not appeared before in this circuit or elsewhere. None of the cases cited by the Court to the contrary is persuasive. In Lewis v. J.C. Penney Co., 948 F.Supp. 367 (D.Del.1996), the plaintiff was stopped and questioned by a security guard, but was permitted to leave with her purchase following the inquiry. Id. at 369-70. The court noted that the result might have been different (in fact, had been different in an earlier case) had there been a policy of treating customers differently based on race. In Rogers v. Elliott, 135 F.Supp.2d 1312 (N.D.Ga.2001), the plaintiffs were harassed by an individual cashier in a Wal-Mart store after making their purchase (which they kept), and there is no indication that any discriminatory intent existed on the part of anyone other than the cashier. Id. at 1313. Finally, in Hampton v. Dillard Dep’t Stores, Inc., 247 F.3d 1091 (10th Cir.2001), the court allowed the § 1981 claim to proceed, recognizing that the plaintiffs ability to redeem a coupon given to her when she made her purchase was a benefit of the sales contract. Id. at 1103-05.
There is evidence of racial discrimination in this case. The District Court determined that Youngblood had produced enough evidence to show Hy-Vee’s discriminatory intent, Youngblood v. Hy-Vee Food Stores, Inc., No. 99-0629-CV-W-2-ECF, slip op. at 24 (W.D.Mo. Dec. 15, 2000), and statements in the record confirm this determination. Regarding Hy-Vee’s practices, there is evidence from several former store employees that Hy-Vee had a discriminatory pattern and practice of targeting, surveilling, stopping, and prosecuting black customers disproportionately to white customers. See Appellant’s Appendix at 704, 709-10, 713-14.
Regarding the incident itself, Young-blood states that while he was being detained upstairs in the store, he was prevented from making a telephone call, and Hy-Vee employees were laughing and smirking. Id. at 429, 430. When he suggested that there was nothing funny about the situation, a Hy-Vee manager said: “I see a whole lot funny about it.” Id. at 429. When Youngblood asked for his money back, he was told by the manager: “You and your people have to pay back double the amount.” Id. at 430.
*859Given this background, I conclude that Hy-Vee’s alleged actions come within § 1981, and that Youngblood should be allowed to proceed with his suit. A person’s right to leave a store where he has purchased an item without being surrounded, detained, and having the item removed from his possession (and his money not returned) can easily be understood as a “benefit” of the contract. Cf. Perry v.. Burger King Corp., 924 F.Supp. 548, 552 (S.D.N.Y.1996) (denying motion to dismiss where customer finished and paid for meal and sought to use restaurant’s restroom; noting that plaintiff may be “considered to have contracted for food and use of the bathroom” as benefit of contractual relationship).
Accepting Youngblood’s version of the facts (which we must for present purposes) racial discrimination pervaded the entire contracting process, not just the moment that Youngblood exchanged money for beef jerky. Youngblood was singled out for surveillance by the store clerk before he made his purchase, singled out for suspicion as he walked to the register to make his purchase (when the store clerk alerted the manager), and singled out for detention by three store employees as he tried to leave the store with his purchase. In short, the entire contracting process— from the time Youngblood entered the store until the time he was prevented from leaving with the beef jerky he had paid for — was tinged with racial discrimination, if Youngblood’s evidence is believed. Given § 1981’s remedial purpose, whether Youngblood had been detained and the beef jerky seized prior to his paying for it, as he was paying for it, or as he was heading for the exit with it should not make a difference under § 1981.
Finally, it is important to separate the question of guilt and innocence from the question of whether a civil rights violation has occurred. In this case, we are not presented with the question of Young-blood’s guilt or innocence of shoplifting. (The criminal case against him was dismissed.) Rather, we are faced with determining when victims of racial discrimination can bring suit under § 1981. The statute protects the guilty as well as the innocent from racially discriminatory practices. Thus, while it is certainly the case that the innocent should not be singled out for arrest because of their skin color, it is equally the case that the guilty should not be singled out for suspicion, investigation, and arrest simply because of their skin color.
For these reasons, I respectfully dissent.

. In the Court's words, "[o]nce Youngblood paid the cashier and received the beef jerky from the cashier, neither party owed the other any duty under the retail-sale contract.” Ante, at 854. As a result, the Court determines, “Hy-Vee cannot be said to have deprived Youngblood of the benefit of any contractual relationship, as no such relationship existed when it took the beef jerky away from Youngblood.” Id. at 854-55. Instead of an action under § 1981, the Court suggests, Youngblood has a state-law action for conversion. Id. at 855.