Beech Grove Inv. Co. v. Civil Rights Com'n
| Decision Date | 01 April 1968 |
| Docket Number | No. 42,42 |
| Citation | 380 Mich. 405,157 N.W.2d 213 |
| Parties | BEECH GROVE INVESTMENT COMPANY, a Michigan Corporation, William J. Pulte, Inc., a Michigan Corporation, and William J. Pulte, Plaintiffs, v. CIVIL RIGHTS COMMISSION of the State of Michigan, Defendant. |
| Court | Michigan Supreme Court |
Dean G. Beier, Hartman, Beier, Howlett & McConnell, Pontiac, for plaintiffs.
Frank J. Kelley, Atty. Gen., Robert A. Derengoski, Solicitor Gen., Carl Levin, Asst. Atty. Gen., Lansing, for Civil Rights Commission.
Stuart J. Dunnings, Jr., Lansing, for Michigan State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, amicus curiae.
Frank E. Cooper, Detroit, for New Detroit Committee, amicus curiae.
Ramon S. Regan, Detroit, for Michigan Catholic Conference, amicus curiae.
Louis Rosenzweig, Detroit, for Jewish Community Council of Metropolitan Detroit, amicus curiae.
Alvin A. Neller, Lansing, for Michigan Council of Churches, amicus curiae.
Jacob Alspector, Nelson Chase, G. Vernon Leopold, Ronald Rothstein, Detroit, Michigan Region Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, amicus curiae.
Arnold Forster, New York City, Gen. Counsel, Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, amicus curiae.
Sol Rabkin, Joseph B. Robison, New York City, National Committee Against Discrimination in Housing, amicus curiae; Paul Hartman, Abraham H. Foxman, New York City, of counsel.
Jacob F. Fahrner, Jr., Ann Arbor, amicus curiae.
Norton J. Cohen, Legal Director, American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, Southfield, amicus curiae.
Before the Entire Bench.
In 1964, Freeman M. Moore, a 38-year-old Negro, lived with his wife and two children in Inkster, Michigan. He had served nine years as a science teacher in the Ecorse High School before becoming a counselor, in which capacity he had served two years. He held three college degrees--a bachelor's degree from Springfield Freeman Moore became interested in the Georgetown Green subdivision, owned by plaintiff Beech Grove Investment Company, through an advertisement in the Detroit Free Press. The advertisement is reproduced herein. After driving through the subdivision, he called the telephone number listed in the ad and requested a brochure and other information. He received the brochure in March, 1964, and discussed the possibilities with his wife. In May, 1964, the Moores decided not to investigate
College, a master's degree in public health from Columbia University, and a master's degree in counseling and guidance from Eastern Michigan University. His wife was a nurse anesthetist at Metropolitan Hospital, Detroit further because Mrs. Moore felt the Georgetown Green subdivision might become a tension area.
In September, 1964, a brochure and letter were mailed to Freeman Moore relating to the development of North Georgetown Green subdivision. The brochure recreated the Moores' interest. Mr. Moore called the sales manager. He had several conversations with him and was mailed a plat plan of the subdivision. On one occasion, not being able to reach the manager, his call was transferred to Mr. Frank Schell, a salesman. In October, 1964, Moore told Schell by telephone that they were interested in Lot 146 in the North Georgetown Green subdivision. Later, he was informed that Lot 146 had been sold. He then indicated interest in Lot 148. Schell advised Moore that Lot 148 would be reserved for him. The next day Moore and his wife obtained a check from a credit union in the amount of $1,000, payable to William J. Pulte, Inc., and forwarded it to Schell. Moore received a deposit agreement naming William J. Pulte, Inc., as seller, signed by Schell, acknowledging receipt of the $1,000 toward the purchase of Lot 148. Moore returned a signed copy of the deposit agreement to Schell. In doing so, he wrote a letter outlining his understanding, from telephone conversations with Schell, of the procedure to be followed for the purchase of the lot and construction of a house.
Beech Grove Investment Company, a Michigan corporation, owned land in Oakland County, Michigan, adjacent to 13-Mile Road between Lahser and Telegraph Roads. The land had been platted into three subdivisions--Georgetown Green subdivision, Lincolnshire Forest subdivision, and Georgetown Green No. 2 subdivision (sometimes called North Georgetown Green).
William J. Pulte and William J. Pulte, Inc., a Michigan corporation, were licensed builders. The corporation held itself out as 'Master Builders.' William J. Pulte was the president of both Beech Grove Investment Company and William J. Pulte, Inc. The first vice-president, second vice-president, secretary, treasurer, and assistant treasurer were the same persons, respectively, in the two corporations. The registered offices of the corporations were the same.
Beech Grove Investment Company had no salesmen. The corporate purpose of William J. Pulte, Inc., was to build residential housing. In its newspaper advertisements and in its posted signs it quoted prices as covering the cost of house and lot. Pulte testified that when his company put such advertisements in the paper, stating that the price quoted included the lot, he assumed Beech Grove Investment Company would go along with the deal and sell the lot. William J. Pulte, Inc., had no contract with Beech Grove Investment Company. Beech Grove Investment Company would not sell any of its lots in the Georgetown subdivisions unless the purchaser contracted with Pulte to build the house. Pulte, Inc., would build a house for an owner on a lot not purchased from Beech Grove Investment Company.
In connection with its activities in the Georgetown subdivisions, William J. Pulte, Inc., maintained two offices in Lincolnshire Forest subdivision, which subdivision adjoined Georgetown Green subdivision. These offices were conducted in a portion of model homes that had been built on Lots 1 and 2 of Lincolnshire Forest subdivision. Accounting and administrative functions were conducted from the office on Lot 1 and sales from Lot 2.
Shortly after receipt of the deposit agreement, Pulte began checking on the Moores. Michael Pulte, a brother of William Pulte, went to the Ecorse High School on October 27, 1964, and contacted Freeman Moore for the first time. He asked for a meeting at the building company's office. One was set for October 29, 1964. An attempt at the hospital was made to check on the identity of Mrs. Moore.
On October 29, 1964, at 7:30 p. m., the Moores met with William Pulte in his office on Lot 1 in Lincolnshire subdivision. Pulte, Baranska--the sales manager, the Moores, and a friend of the Moores--a Dr. Courtney--were present. The testimony of Pulte, in part, before the Civil Rights Commission, about the meeting was as follows:
'
On examination by his attorney, William J. Pulte said:
'I told Mr. Moore that he had a cross in life and it was the color of his skin.'
Pulte returned the Moores' $1,000 check by letter dated November 3, 1964. Moore testified that at no time was he asked or was inquiry made by the Pultes as to his financial ability to buy.
Freeman M. Moore complained to the Civil Rights Commission. The commission, by an amended complaint issued on its own behalf on October 26, 1965, proceeded against Beech Grove Investment Company, William J. Pulte, Inc., and William J. Pulte personally. Answer to the amended complaint was filed by the respondents on November 18, 1965. A public hearing before three hearing commissioners was held in Pontiac, Michigan, on November 30, 1965. Findings of fact, dated January 19, 1966, were filed by the hearing commissioners and approved by the Civil Rights Commission at its public meeting on January 25, 1966. On February 8, 1966, the Civil Rights Commission issued a cease and desist order against the respondents in which it found that discrimination against Negroes on their part violated:
A complaint was filed on February 28, 1966, in the Oakland County circuit court by respondents as plaintiffs against the Civil Rights Commission, seeking a trial De novo and a quashing of the cease and desist order of the commission. Answer to the complaint was filed by the Attorney General on March 11, 1966. On August 22, 1967, Governor George Romney, pursuant to Michigan General Court Rule 797, requested the Supreme Court to authorize the circuit court of Oakland County to certify to this Court controlling questions of public law involved in the case pending before that circuit court. An order of the Supreme Court accepting certification of one controlling question was entered on October 3, 1967.
THE CERTIFIED QUESTION
The question so certified reads as follows:
'Is the Civil Rights Commission possessed of jurisdiction, absent enabling legislation, to entertain complaints of discrimination, because of religion, race, color or national origin, in the purchase and sale of private housing?'
The Michigan Civil Rights Commission came into existence by virtue of Article V, § 29, of the 1963 Michigan...
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