Clark v. Maryland Hospitality, Inc., No. 91-2091

• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (4th Circuit)
• Writing for the Court: Before WILKINSON, Circuit Judge, and BUTZNER and CHAPMAN; PER CURIAM
• Citation: 972 F.2d 338
• Parties: NOTICE: Fourth Circuit I.O.P. 36.6 states that citation of unpublished dispositions is disfavored except for establishing res judicata, estoppel, or the law of the case and requires service of copies of cited unpublished dispositions of the Fourth Circuit. Thomas CLARK; Nancy Clark, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. MARYLAND HOSPITALITY, INCORPORATED, Defendant-Appellant, Edgar Sims, Jr.; Jeanette I. Sims, General partners of KDCA Partnership, a Maryland General Partnership; Andrew M. Sims, d/b/a Best Western Maryland Inn, Defendants. . Argued:
• Docket Number: No. 91-2091
• Decision Date: 03 March 1992

Page 338

972 F.2d 338 NOTICE: Fourth Circuit I.O.P. 36.6 states that citation of unpublished dispositions is disfavored except for establishing res judicata, estoppel, or the law of the case and requires service of copies of cited unpublished dispositions of the Fourth Circuit. Thomas CLARK; Nancy Clark, Plaintiffs-Appellees,
v.
MARYLAND HOSPITALITY, INCORPORATED, Defendant-Appellant,
Edgar Sims, Jr.; Jeanette I. Sims, General partners of KDCA
Partnership, a Maryland General Partnership;
Andrew M. Sims, d/b/a Best Western
Maryland Inn, Defendants. No. 91-2091. United States Court of Appeals,
Fourth Circuit. Argued: March 3, 1992
Decided: August 6, 1992

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, at Baltimore.

Michael Patrick Broderick, DONOVAN & O'CONNELL, for Appellant.

Joseph M. Sellers, WASHINGTON LAWYERS' COMMITTEE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS UNDER LAW, for Appellees.

Jill Ann Reid, DONOVAN & O'CONNELL, for Appellant.

John P. Relman, WASHINGTON LAWYERS' COMMITTEE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS UNDER LAW, Elizabeth T. Jester, James E. Williams, JESTER & WILLIAMS, for Appellees.

D.Md.

AFFIRMED.

Before WILKINSON, Circuit Judge, and BUTZNER and CHAPMAN, Senior Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

OPINION

Maryland Hospitality, Inc., moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict after a jury found it intentionally discriminated against Thomas and Nancy Clark on the basis of race. The district court denied the motion. We affirm.

Maryland Hospitality, Inc., a motel management company, leases the Best Western Maryland Inn from KDCA Partnership. Thomas and Nancy Clark, two black individuals, live within five or six miles of the Maryland Inn. On July 5, 1988, a desk clerk denied them a room, telling them that the motel did not rent to local residents.

The Clarks filed a complaint with the Prince George's County Human Relations Commission alleging racial discrimination. The commission sent two testers to the motel, one black and the other white. The desk clerk asked the black tester for identification, then told him he could not stay in the motel because he was a local resident. Although the white tester used a local address when registering, the clerk on duty rented him a room without asking for identification or questioning his reasons for staying at the motel.

The Clarks sued Maryland Hospitality and individuals associated with Maryland Hospitality, claiming that the policy of not renting to local residents was a pretext for intentional racial discrimination. Count I alleged that the Clarks were denied "their right to full and...