Hall v. Lowder Realty Co., Inc.
| Decision Date | 29 June 2001 |
| Docket Number | No. Civ.A. 97-T-1382-N.,Civ.A. 97-T-1382-N. |
| Parties | P.R. HALL, Plaintiff, v. LOWDER REALTY CO., INC., et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Middle District of Alabama |
Elaine R. Jones, Norman J. Chachkin, New York City, Leslie Proll, Reed N. Colfax, Washington, DC, Samuel Fisher, Gordon, Siberman, Wiggins & Childs, Birmingham, AL, for Plaintiff.
Frances Heidt, Fern Singer, Marion F. Walker, Berkowitz Lefkovits, Isom & Kushner, Birmingham, AL, Christopher J. Willis, Rogers & Hardin, LLP, Atlanta, GA, Charles A. Stewart, III, Bradley Arant Rose & White, LLP, Montgomery, AL, Gail Crummie Washington, Birmingham, AL, David R. Boyd, Robin Garrett Laurie, Balch & Bingham, Montgomery, AL, for Defendants.
Plaintiff P.R. Hall, an African-American real-estate agent, brings this action alleging that her former employer engaged in racially discriminatory referral practices and retaliated against her and terminated her for opposing discrimination and because of her race. She names as defendants Lowder Realty Company, Inc., Lowder New Homes, Inc., Lowder New Homes Sales, Inc., Colonial Company, James K. Lowder, Jerry Wills, Fraser Sparkman, John Dorough, Jr., Barbara Bonds, and Warren Stafford.1 She proceeds under the Fair Housing Act of 1968 (FHA) () and the Civil Rights Act of 1866 (42 U.S.C.A. § 1981),2 and she seeks declaratory and injunctive relief and compensatory and punitive damages. She has properly invoked the jurisdiction of this court under 28 U.S.C.A. §§ 1331 (federal question) and 1343(a)(4) (civil rights) and 42 U.S.C.A. § 3613(a)(1)(A) (FHA).
This lawsuit is now before the court on the motion for summary judgment filed by defendants. At this time, the court will determine only whether Hall can proceed with any of her substantive claims, and will address the arguments regarding the liability of the various defendants as to those claims in a forthcoming opinion. For reasons to follow, the court will deny the motion in part and grant it in part.
Rule 56(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that summary judgment is appropriate where "there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and ... the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Once the party seeking summary judgment has informed the court of the basis for its motion, the burden shifts to the non-moving party to demonstrate why summary judgment would be inappropriate. See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2553, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); see also Fitzpatrick v. City of Atlanta, 2 F.3d 1112, 1115-17 (11th Cir.1993) (). In making its determination, the court must view all evidence and any factual inferences in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. See Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 1356, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986).
The facts, as garnered from the affidavits, deposition testimony, and other evidence submitted by the parties but viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, are as follows. On or about January 1993, Hall began working for Lowder Realty, a residential real-estate company in Montgomery, Alabama, as a residential real-estate agent.3 She was recruited by Jerry Wills, who at that time was the president and broker of Lowder Realty.4 Wills reports that he been trying to recruit her for several years before she agreed to come to Lowder Realty. When Wills recruited her, he asked her to work in Meadowalk, a predominantly African-American subdivision.5 Hall soon became one of Lowder Realty's top producers.6 In the years 1994 through 1996, Lowder Realty awarded her "Top Sales Associate."7
Defendants are related to each other as follows:
• Lowder Realty is a wholly owned subsidiary of Colonial Company, as is Lowder New Homes.
• Lowder New Homes owns real-estate developments in the Montgomery, Alabama area, and Lowder New Homes Sales is a subsidiary of Lowder New Homes.
• James K. Lowder is the president of Colonial Company.
• Barbara Bonds is the president of Lowder New Homes Sales.
• Warren Stafford is sales manager for Lowder New Homes.
• Fraser Sparkman is the qualifying broker for Lowder Realty.
• Jerry Wills was the president and broker of Lowder Realty at the time Hall was hired.
• In March 1996, John W. Dorough, Jr. became general manager of Lowder Realty.8
Lowder Realty has a department, called the Relocation Department, dedicated to assigning third-party referrals of customers to agents. The Relocation Department handles two main types of referrals: buyer referrals and listing referrals. A listing referral occurs when a person who wants to sell his or her Montgomery area home is referred to an agent for assistance in selling the home; a buyer referral occurs when an individual who is moving to the Montgomery area is referred to an agent for assistance in buying a home.9
During the time Hall was at Lowder Realty, there were no fixed procedures for distributing referrals among Lowder agents. The policy manual left the decision to the discretion of the Relocation Director, who was Denise Haviland during the relevant period. The policy manual states:
10
Hall received training that qualified her to receive all referrals, including the most sophisticated referrals.11 However, Hall received only two buyer referrals during her tenure at Lowder Realty: Nicole Washington and Ted Bagley, both of whom are African-American.12 When Haviland referred Washington to Hall, Haviland told Hall that Washington "need[ed] to work with a very strong black person, because her husband was a judge with the EEOC" and "Washington was a strong black woman."13 Hall replied that "regardless of the reason for handing [her] the referral, [she] would take them to the closing table."14
Most of the listing referrals Hall received were in Area Five, a predominantly African-American area of town.15 Hall estimates that the population of Area Five is approximately 85 % African-American.16 Hall also received referrals of home-sellers in Area Five from Wills.17 Charlie Baker, a client whom Wills referred, told Hall that Wills had informed him she was "the expert in the area."18
Hall complained to Haviland on a number of occasions about receiving referrals on the basis of race.19 In February 1997, Hall asked Haviland for referrals in areas other than Area Five and Haviland told her that she would receive the next referral outside of Area Five.20 Hall never received another referral from Haviland.21 Hall also complained to Wills, Lowder, and Dorough about the apparent belief in the company that she could sell property in only Area Five. She complained to Lowder and Dorough on or about May 16, 1997, less than a week before her termination.22
Certain agents received more referrals than others. Becky Westbrook, a white agent, received more third-party referrals than other agents did, as did Jere Whitehouse and Jean Davis (who is an African-American).23 Westbrook told Hall that in one year she had received 13 or 14 referrals, a number which astounded Hall.24 Westbrook received listing referrals all over Montgomery, and, in 1997, Westbrook received 25 % of her business from referrals.25 Hall also concluded that another white agent, Gerald Phillips, received more referrals than she did because, when it was announced that the referral policy would change, he said that he feared he would be put on probation for not selling enough.26 Dorough also confirmed that Westbrook and another white agent, Diane Wolf, relied on referrals from Haviland for much of their business.27
In 1996, Hall complained to defendants about racially discriminatory treatment of the following three customers:
• Rosemary Elebash: In 1996, Hall listed the home of Brian and Rosemary Elebash, which was located in the Normandale section of Montgomery.28 Hall contends that she received a call from Rosemary Elebash complaining that Lowder Realty agent Arthur Leslie had encouraged the Elebashes' neighbors to sell their house at a relatively low amount because African-Americans were moving into the area.29 Hall reported the complaint to Dorough, who was general manager of Lowder Realty at the time.30 She told Dorough that he should talk to the agent and to Rosemary Elebash about the incident.31
• Barbara Gill-Smith: In the summer of 1996, Hall was representing Barbara Gill-Smith and Ezell Smith, an African-American couple, in the sale of their home.32 Hall suggested that Gill-Smith consider purchasing a new home in Young Farm and Bellwood West, both Lowder New Homes subdivisions.33 Hall believes that Young Farm is predominantly white.34
On July 17, 1996, Gill-Smith visited Young Farm with a friend. She later paged Hall. When Hall spoke with her, Gill-Smith was hysterical and upset. Gill-Smith told her that when she asked for the price of a home, the agent on duty at Young Farm, who was white and knew nothing about...
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