Court Opinion

ID: 9789508
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 01:37:19.468016+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:22.751137
License: Public Domain

*1176MOSK, J., Dissenting.
The majority hold, as a matter of law, that defendant’s minimum income policy does not violate the Unruh Civil Rights Act. Upon reflection, however, I must agree in principle with Justice Broussard’s dissent that plaintiffs here have pled a facially valid cause of action under the Unruh Act. Because there are factual issues unresolved, the issue could not be disposed of on demurrer.
As the Court of Appeal found, whether an announced policy is arbitrary or unreasonable is to be determined by a trier of fact. Is the three-times-rent criterion an accurate predictor of a tenant’s ability to meet his or her financial obligations? Is the criterion customarily used in the financial industry and, if so, is it reasonable? Is the criterion appropriate in all parts of the state, or do the variations in income levels render it valid in some locales and arbitrary in others? These and other questions clearly require a factual determination.
Since the majority determine these and similar issues on demurrer as a matter of law, I believe they err and therefore dissent.