Trafficante v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.
Supreme Court of the United States
Trafficante et al. v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. et al.
Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
No. 71-708. Argued: November 7, 1972 --- Decided: December 7, 1972
Two tenants of an apartment complex filed complaints with the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development alleging that their landlord racially discriminated against nonwhites, that the tenants thereby lost the social benefits of living in an integrated community, missed business and professional advantages that would have accrued from living with members of minority groups, and suffered from being "stigmatized" as residents of a "white ghetto." The District Court, not reaching the merits, held that the complaining tenants were not within the class of persons entitled to sue under § 810 (a) of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. The Court of Appeals, in affirming, construed § 810 (a) to permit complaints only by persons who are the objects of discriminatory housing practices.
Held: The definition in § 810 (a) of "person aggrieved," as "any person who claims to have been injured by a discriminatory housing practice," shows a congressional intention to define standing as broadly as is permitted by Article III of the Constitution, and petitioners, being tenants of the apartment complex, have standing to sue under § 810 (a). Pp. 208-212.
446 F.2d 1158, reversed and remanded.
DOUGLAS, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court. WHITE, J., filed a concurring opinion, in which BLACKMUN and POWELL, JJ., joined, post, p. 212.
Stephen V. Bomse argued the cause for petitioners. With him on the briefs were George H. Clyde, Jr., and Margaret D. Brown.
Richard J. Kilmartin argued the cause and filed a brief for Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. Robert M. Shea argued the cause and filed a brief for respondent Parkmerced Corp.
Deputy Solicitor General Wallace argued the cause for the United States as amicus curiae urging reversal. With him on the brief were Solicitor General Griswold, Assistant Attorney General Norman, and Frank E. Schwelb. Briefs of amici curiae urging reversal were filed by Robert Keith Booth, Jr., for the City of Palo Alto, California, and by Jack Greenberg, James M. Nabrit III, Charles Stephen Ralston, Michael Davidson, William Bennett Turner, and Alice Daniel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.