Bratcher v. Akron Area Board of Realtors, 17113.
| Decision Date | 11 August 1967 |
| Docket Number | No. 17113.,17113. |
| Citation | 381 F.2d 723 |
| Parties | Mercer BRATCHER et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. The AKRON AREA BOARD OF REALTORS et al., Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Jack Greenberg, New York City, James M. Nabrit, III, Leroy D. Clark, Sheila Rush, New York City, Jack G. Day, Cleveland, Ohio, Norman Purnell, Akron, Ohio, Jay Topkis, New York City, on brief, for appellants.
Sidney D. L. Jackson, Jr., Cleveland, Ohio, Alexander H. Hadden, George Downing, John H. Burlingame, Baker, Hostetler & Patterson, Cleveland, Ohio, Ivan L. Smith, Akron, Ohio, on brief, for appellees, except First Nat. Bank of Akron and Herberich-Hall-Harter, Inc.
Frank H. Harvey, Jr., Akron, Ohio, Brouse, McDowell, May, Bierce & Wortman, C. Blake McDowell, Jr., Karl S. Hay, Akron, Ohio, on brief, for appellees First Nat. Bank of Akron and Herberich-Hall-Harter, Inc.
Stephen G. Breyer, Atty., Department of Justice, Washington, D. C., Donald F. Turner, Asst. Atty. Gen., Washington, D. C., on brief, for United States as amicus curiae.
Before PHILLIPS and EDWARDS, Circuit Judges, and CECIL, Senior Circuit Judge.
This is a case of first impression, whereby appellants undertake to apply the antitrust laws to an alleged conspiracy by a board of realtors and others, which conspiracy allegedly prevents Negroes from owning or renting property in white neighborhoods. The district judge granted appellees' motion to dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction.
The Department of Justice has intervened in this court as amicus curiae on behalf of the appellants, urging that the complaint states a claim upon which relief can be granted under the antitrust laws.
Appellants brought this action, seeking to enjoin appellees from violating the Federal (Sherman Act § 1, 15 U.S.C. § 1; Clayton Act § 16, 15 U.S.C. § 26) and State (Valentine Act, 13 O.R.C., §§ 1331.01 to 1331.04) antitrust laws, alleging that the action of appellees prevented appellants from owning or renting property in white neighborhoods in Akron, Ohio, thereby violating the aforesaid statutes.
The three plaintiff classes alleged are: 1) Negro persons (in Akron and from out of State) who have sought to purchase or rent real property in the Akron area; 2) white persons who have sought to sell or lease property in the Akron area to Negroes; and 3) Negro real estate brokers and salesmen.
The appellees represent owners and lessors in nearly all of the real property transactions taking place within the Akron area. Appellants argue that, as a result of the conspiracy, interstate commerce has been impeded by restraining the flow in interstate commerce of persons, mortgage financing and building materials. Appellees contend that the antitrust laws were never intended to be used and cannot be interpreted as an instrument to enforce civil rights.
The district court correctly held that the Sherman Act extends not only to transactions in the stream of interstate commerce, but also to intrastate transactions which substantially affect...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
In re Multidistrict Vehicle Air Pollution MDL No. 31
...an injury to excluded minority members that confers standing for injunctive relief under section 16, see Bratcher v. Board of Realtors, 381 F.2d 723 (6th Cir. 1967), although not for treble damages under section 4. Since all appellees herein have alleged "threatened loss or damage" to inter......
-
Marin County Bd. of Realtors, Inc. v. Palsson
...construing statutes cast in the same language as the Cartwright Act have applied antitrust laws to realtors (Bratcher v. Akron Area Board of Realtors (6th Cir. 1967) 381 F.2d 723 and to insurance companies (State v. American Surety Co. (1912), 91 Neb. 22, 135 N.W. CAR also refers to the pro......
-
Alaska Teamsters Local 959 v. Atlantic Richfield, A83-171 CIV to A83-173 CIV and A84-322 CIV.
...an injury to excluded minority members that confers standing for injunctive relief under section 16, see Bratcher v. Board of Realtors, 381 F.2d 723 (6th Cir. 1967), although not for treble damages under section 4. Since all appellees herein have alleged "threatened loss of damage" to inter......
-
Income Realty & Mortg., Inc. v. Denver Bd. of Realtors
...board that it conspired to prevent blacks from buying in white neighborhoods stated a Sherman Act cause, Bratcher v. Akron Area Board of Realtors, 381 F.2d 723 (6th Cir. 1967), while on somewhat similar allegations a Michigan district court found an insufficient connection with interstate c......
-
ANTITRUST AND RACE.
...L. REV. 999 (2008); Chang, supra note 11, at 487. (190.) See infra Appendix A. The exception was Bratcher v. Akron Area Board of Realtors, 381 F.2d 723 (6th Cir. 1967), where the DOJ intervened on plaintiffs' behalf to argue its position that the plaintiffs sufficiently alleged a federal an......
-
Paper Trail: Recent Papers on Antitrust and Structural Racism
...at 1501-02 (citing an earlier paper she authored, Hiba Hafiz, Labor Antitrust’s Paradox , 87 u. CH I . l. re v . 381, 392-99 (2020)). 27 381 F.2d 723 (6th Cir. 1967). The celebrated decision in Vietnamese Fishermen’s Ass’n v. Knights of Ku Klux Klan , 518 F. Supp. 993 (S.D. Tex. 1981), whic......