Maryland Com'n on Human Relations v. Greenbelt Homes, Inc.

• Decision Date: 01 September 1983
• Docket Number: No. 8,8
• Citation: 300 Md. 75,475 A.2d 1192
• Parties: MARYLAND COMMISSION ON HUMAN RELATIONS v. GREENBELT HOMES, INC. (Adv.)
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

Page 75

300 Md. 75

475 A.2d 1192

MARYLAND COMMISSION ON HUMAN RELATIONS v. GREENBELT HOMES, INC.

No. 8 (Adv.) Sept. Term, 1983.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

June 7, 1984.

Risselle Rosenthal Fleisher, Gen. Counsel, Baltimore (Glendora C. Hughes, Asst. Gen. Counsel and Philip L. Marcus, Associate Gen. Counsel, Baltimore, on the brief), for appellant.

Lester B. Seidel, Washington, D.C. (James F. Perna and Krooth & Altman, Washington, D.C., on the brief), for appellee.

Argued before MURPHY, C.J., and SMITH, ELDRIDGE, COLE, DAVIDSON, RODOWSKY and COUCH, JJ.

COLE, Judge.

In this case we must determine whether enforcing a housing cooperative regulation that operates to prohibit a female resident from having an unrelated adult male reside with her constitutes discrimination on the basis of "marital status" proscribed by Maryland Code (1957, 1979 Repl.Vol.), Art. 49B, § 20. The relevant facts are not disputed.

Greenbelt Homes, Inc. (Greenbelt) is a Maryland corporation operating a housing cooperative in Greenbelt, Maryland. In 1976, Raymond and Marguerite Burgess (Burgess) applied for a Greenbelt membership. Their daughter, C. Lynn Kuhr (Kuhr), and her son were to be the residents of the unit; therefore, Kuhr also was required to file an application with Greenbelt. On this application, Kuhr indicated that only she and her son would be living in the unit. The Greenbelt board of directors granted Burgess permission to have their daughter and her son dwell in their unit and on November 15, 1976, Burgess entered into a mutual ownership contract with Greenbelt purchasing the equity and perpetual use of a housing unit in the Greenbelt Housing Project. This contract provided that the corporation could impose reasonable rules and regulations in managing the project and specifically noted that occupancy of the unit was only for the cooperative member and "his immediate family." If the member violated any provisions of the agreement, the corporation could terminate the contract. Furthermore, a Greenbelt occupancy regulation specifically defined "family members." See infra p. 80.

Kuhr and her son moved into the unit shortly after her parents executed the contract. Sometime thereafter Richard Searight, an unrelated adult male, also moved into the unit. Neither Kuhr nor her parents ever sought a waiver of the contractual provision limiting occupancy to immediate family members. In May of 1978, Greenbelt became aware of Mr. Searight's presence in the unit after receiving complaints from other cooperative members about parking and other problems relating to the occupancy of the Kuhr unit. Greenbelt advised Kuhr and her parents that having this unrelated adult occupy the unit violated the mutual ownership contract and urged them to "straighten out" the situation. When the matter had not been resolved by September of 1978, Greenbelt notified Burgess of a board of directors meeting at which they could explain why their contract should not be terminated. Before this meeting, Kuhr notified Greenbelt that Mr. Searight would be vacating the unit (which he in fact did "against his will and against the will of [Kuhr]").

Prior to Searight's exodus, Kuhr filed a housing discrimination complaint with the Maryland Commission on Human Relations (Commission) pursuant to Maryland Code (1957, 1979 Repl.Vol.), Art. 49B, § 9(a), alleging that Greenbelt's conduct constituted discrimination on the basis of her "marital status, single." After concluding that there was probable cause to proceed against Greenbelt for discriminatory conduct, the Commission issued its Statement of Charges. See Maryland Code (1957, 1979 Repl.Vol.), Art. 49B, § 11(a). A hearing examiner reviewed the case on stipulated facts. On August 28, 1980, he dismissed the action with prejudice, concluding that there had been a breach of the ownership contract. The Commission's counsel appealed to a three-member appeal board of the Commission, which reversed the dismissal of the Kuhr complaint and ordered Greenbelt to "cease and desist from discriminating against [Kuhr] in the terms, conditions or privileges of sale or rental of a dwelling...."

The Commission subsequently denied a request to vacate its decision and Greenbelt filed a petition in the Circuit Court for Prince George's County to review and reverse the Commission's decision. Each party moved for summary judgment. The circuit court granted Greenbelt's motion, concluding that Prince George's County v. Greenbelt Homes, 49 Md.App. 314, 431 A.2d 745 (1981), controlled and thus sections 19 and 20 of Article 49B had not been violated.

The Commission timely noted an appeal to the Court of Special Appeals and Greenbelt noted a cross-appeal. The Commission filed a petition for writ of certiorari in this Court presenting the following issue:

Whether the prohibition of unmarried persons of the opposite sex who choose to share a dwelling space in the Greenbelt Housing Project is discrimination on the basis of marital status within the meaning of Section 20 of Article 49B of the Annotated Code of Maryland.

We granted certiorari prior to consideration by the intermediate court to resolve this important issue. ¹

Greenbelt argues that Kuhr breached the mutual ownership contract and, thus, it has the right to terminate her occupancy. The mutual ownership contract provides, in pertinent part, as follows:

7(a). Occupancy: The Member shall occupy the dwelling unit covered by this contract as a private dwelling from the date of occupancy ... for himself and his immediate family....

7(b). Rules and Regulations Relating to Occupancy and Care of the Dwelling: This Corporation reserves the right to impose any reasonable rules and regulations not inconsistent with the provisions of this contract ... as in its judgment may be necessary or desirable for the management and control of Greenbelt and the Member's dwelling unit and surrounding premises, and for the preservation of good order and comfort therein, and the Member agrees faithfully to observe and comply with such rules and regulations and further agrees that all persons living in the dwelling unit also will observe and comply with such rules and regulation....

13. Termination of Contract by Corporation for Default or for Cause: In the event of default by the Member ... or violation of any of the provisions hereof, the Corporation may terminate this contract.... The Corporation may terminate this Contract ... if its board of directors ... shall determine that the Member for sufficient cause is undesirable as a resident in Greenbelt because of objectionable conduct on the part of the Member or of a person living in his dwelling unit. To violate or disregard the rules and regulations provided for in paragraph 7(b) hereof, after due warning, shall be deemed to be objectionable conduct.

The occupancy regulation amplifying section 7(a) of the contract stated:

That the definition of "family members" as used in GHI Mutual Ownership Contracts be clarified as follows: the following are considered as family members who may live in a GHI unit without getting GHI approval for such occupancy as long as the number of persons does not exceed GHI occupancy standards:

1. Wife, Mother, Stepmother, Mother-in-Law

2. Husband, Father, Stepfather, Father-in-Law

3. Daughter, Stepdaughter, Legally Adopted Daughter, Daughter-in-Law

4. Son, Stepson, Legally Adopted Son, Son-in-Law

5. Sister, Sister-in-Law

6. Brother, Brother-in-Law

7. Grandchildren, Grandparents

8. Foster Children--The number of foster children which a member may care for is determined by the existing family unit to insure that total occupancy standards established by Prince George's County for foster children placement are not exceeded.

The housing of any other person in a GHI unit in excess of 30 days, whether with or without compensation, without approval of the board of directors will be considered a violation of the mutual ownership contract and may result in the termination of such member's contract.

We had occasion to review these contractual provisions in Green v. Greenbelt Homes, 232 Md. 496, 194 A.2d 273 (1963). In that case Greenbelt sought to terminate its contract with a woman who, among other violations, was living with an unrelated adult man. The Court addressed the question "whether the provisions of the contract relating to termination were valid." Id. at 501, 194 A.2d 273. The Court held that the member had breached her contract with Greenbelt sufficiently to "warrant the corporation exercising its right to terminate the interests of the member in the dwelling unit." Id. at 504, 194 A.2d 273. In examining the issue presented in that case, the Court focused on the nature of the cooperative and its relationship to members:

An important factor in the maintenance of a cooperative housing project is the control of the activities of the cooperative members living within the project. In a recent article, Restrictions on the Use of Cooperative Apartment Property, by Arthur E. Wallace, 13 Hastings Law Journal, 357, 363, it is said:

"The economic and social interdependence of the tenant-owners demands cooperation on all levels of cooperative life if a tolerable living situation is to be maintained. Each tenant-owner is required to give up some of the freedoms he would otherwise enjoy if he were living in a private dwelling and likewise is privileged to demand the same sacrifices of his cotenant-owners with respect to his rights.

"By analogy, the cooperative agreement is really a community within a community governed, like our municipalities, by rules and regulations for the benefit of the whole. Whereas the use of lands within a city is controlled by zoning ordinances, the use of apartments within the cooperative project is controlled by restrictive covenants. The use of the common facilities in the project is controlled on the same theory that the use of city streets and parks is regulated. In both situations compliance...