Peyton v. Barrington Plaza Corp.

64 Cal.2d 880 (1966) THOMAS ROY PEYTON, Plaintiff and Appellant,

v.

BARRINGTON PLAZA CORPORATION, Defendant and Respondent.

L. A. No. 28449. Supreme Court of California. In Bank.

May 10, 1966. Saul S. Kreshek, A. L. Wirin, Fred Okrand, and Sam Rosenwein for Plaintiff and Appellant.

John F. Duff, Richard G. Logan, Cyril A. Coyle, James S. DeMartini, Thomas Arata, William J. Bush, Peter J. Donnici, James T. McDonald, Richard B. Morris, Richard A. Bancroft, Jack Greenberg, Robert M. O'Neil, Joseph B. Robison, Sol Rabkin, Duane B. Beeson, Seymour Farber, Robert H. Laws, Jr., Howard Nemerovski, John G. Clancy and Ephraim Margolin as Amici Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Appellant.

Malat & Malat and Ned R. Nelsen for Defendant and Respondent.

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, William French Smith, Samuel O. Pruitt, Jr., and Charles S. Battles, Jr., as Amici Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Respondent.

Memorandum

PEEK, J.

Plaintiff, a physician and member of the Negro race, appeals from a judgment for defendant on the pleadings in an action for injunctive relief under sections 51 and 52 of the Civil Code. [fn. 1]

Plaintiff alleges that the defendant is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of California; [881] that it is engaged in the business of constructing and operating rental housing projects, and particularly the "Barrington Plaza" in the City of Los Angeles; that in the development of Barrington Plaza defendant received public assistance and the state was involved in the project; that defendant denied to plaintiff the rental of an apartment in Barrington Plaza solely because of plaintiff's race; that plaintiff has no adequate remedy at law to compel defendant to lease an apartment to him, and that plaintiff will suffer irreparable damage if not permitted to lease or occupy an apartment at Barrington Plaza.