Stout v. YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASS'N OF BESSEMER, ALABAMA
Decision Date | 06 December 1968 |
Docket Number | No. 25894.,25894. |
Parties | Blevin STOUT and Sammie Bibb, Jr., Individually, and on behalf of others similarly situated, Appellants, v. YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF BESSEMER, ALABAMA, Appellee. |
Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Norman C. Amaker, New York City, Oscar W. Adams, Jr., Birmingham, Ala., Conrad K. Harper, Jack Greenberg, New York City, Harvey M. Burg, Birmingham, Ala., for appellants.
J. W. Patton, Jr., J. Howard McEniry, Jr., Bessemer, Ala., for appellee.
Before JOHN R. BROWN, Chief Judge, and RIVES and McENTEE*, Circuit Judges.
Stout and Bibb, individually and on behalf of others similarly situated, seek relief against the Young Men's Christian Association of Bessemer, Alabama (hereinafter referred to as Y.M.C.A.), pursuant to Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 78 Stat. 243, 42 U.S.C. § 2000a to 2000a-6 ( ).1
The district court denied relief in reliance on Nesmith v. Y.M.C.A. of Raleigh, N.C., E.D.N.C.1967, 273 F.Supp. 502, which was thereafter reversed with directions by the Fourth Circuit, 397 F.2d 96. Factually, the district court found, inter alia, that the Y.M.C.A. at Bessemer is a private club whose facilities are not open to the public. On a careful consideration of the evidence, we hold that finding clearly erroneous and reverse.
The Bessemer Y.M.C.A. is a tax-exempt,2 nonprofit, Alabama corporation governed by a 24-member Board of Directors and autonomous in its operation, though a member of the National Council of Y.M.C.A. and the Southern Area Council of Y.M.C.A. About 53 or 54% of its income is derived from the United Appeal or Community Chest by county-wide solicitation of the general public. Of 3070 different membership applications in 1966, all were accepted except four dormitory applications which were rejected. The district court found that the two named Negro plaintiffs who filed the present class action were denied membership and the use of a room solely because they were Negroes. Three weeks later a white person applied for and was rented a room for the night for $1.50, of which 50 cents was described on his receipt as a "Membership Fee." Actually, he was not questioned nor required to submit a formal membership application. Mr. Hurst, the General Secretary of the Bessemer Y.M.C.A., testified flatly "that membership is open to the general public." "A private club or other establishment not in fact open to the public" is exempted from the provisions of the Act.3 Clearly, the Bessemer Y.M.C.A. is not such a private club.
The Y.M.C.A. building contains 46 bedrooms, 12 doubles and 34 singles, or a total of 58 beds for rent. Most of the dormitory rooms are rented to persons who work in plants in Bessemer and go to their homes in other parts of Alabama on the weekend. In 1965 six persons rented a room for less than a week, and in 1966 there were five. The Secretary testified:
Most significantly the district court found that the two named Negro plaintiffs were denied the opportunity to rent rooms not on the ground of no vacancy but because they were Negroes.
The Act includes as a "place of public accommodation" an "establishment which provides lodging to transient guests."4 Whatever may be the exact meaning of "transient guests," it is clear that mere itinerants or overnight guests come within that classification, and further that such guests are provided lodging at the Bessemer Y.M.C.A. when rooms are available. The Bessemer Y.M.C.A. violated the Act when it denied rooms to the two named Negro plaintiffs solely because they were Negroes.
Upon oral argument, appellee's counsel candidly admitted that since room rental carries with it "membership" for the time being, those renting rooms are entitled to use the facilities such as the swimming pool which are available to other "members" of the Y.M.C.A. See 42 U.S.C.A. § 2000a(b) (4). The Bessemer Y.M.C.A. violated the Act when it denied membership to the named plaintiffs because they were Negroes.
"Membership," however, has no relation to service of food under the peculiar arrangements at the Bessemer Y.M.C.A. On that subject the district court found:
5
The Secretary testified:
Thus any right to relief as to the selling of food on the premises must rest not on the right to rent a bedroom, nor on individual "membership," but on the claimed refusal of requests of the named plaintiffs for dining facilities for Negro organizations. The district court made no finding as to any such request. The Secretary denied that any such request was made:
He further testified that
Stout and Bibb admitted that at the time they applied for service they did not know that food was served only to groups. They testified vaguely that Stout had mentioned that "we would like to register as an organization because we were interested in some organization meetings...
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