Prowd v. Gore

SHAW, J.

Action to recover damages. It appears from the findings herein that defendants A. L. and M. Gore were, on March 7, 1921, the owners and proprietors of the Burbank Theater, in Los Angeles, of which defendant Wolfe, as their employee, was manager; that on said date plaintiff, who is a member of the negro race and who was at said time a citizen of the United States and a resident of California, over the age of twenty-one years, purchased a ticket which entitled him to a seat on the lower floor of said theater; that, although upon presentation of his ticket plaintiff was admitted to the theater, the defendants, their agents and employees, solely on account of his race and color and for no other reason, refused to give plaintiff a seat on the lower floor of the theater, to which, as the purchaser of said ticket, he was entitled; that by reason of such discrimination on account of his race and color he was humiliated and damaged in the sum of $100.55. Judgment followed in accordance with these findings, from which defendants have appealed.

The ground relied upon by appellants for a reversal of the judgment is the insufficiency of the evidence to justify the finding that plaintiff was a citizen of the United States and of the state of California, or that defendants Gore, by direction or otherwise, participated in the act of their employees in discriminating against plaintiff.

The action is based upon the provisions of sections 51 and 52 of the Civil Code, the first of which sections provides that “all citizens within the jurisdiction of this state are entitled to the full and equal . . . privileges of . . .

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theaters . . . , subject only to the conditions and limitations established by law and applicable alike to all citizens”; and the second provides that “whoever denies to any citizen, except for reasons applicable alike to every race or color, the full . . . advantages, facilities, and privileges enumerated in section fifty-one of this code, ... or whoever makes any discrimination, distinction, or restriction on account of color or race, or except for good cause, applicable alike to citizens of every color or race whatsoever, in respect to . . . his treatment in, any . . . theater, . . . for each and every such offense is liable in damages in an amount not less than one hundred dollars, which may be recovered in an action at law brought for that purpose.” The only evidence touching the question of citizenship was that of plaintiff to the effect that he was at the time in question a resident of Los Angeles, living at 1382 East Fifteenth Street. The contention of appellants is that this evidence fell short of showing that plaintiff was a citizen of the state of California, in the absence of which, they insist, plaintiff could not maintain the action. In support of their contention they cite numerous cases involving diversified citizenship as a condition of the right to invoke the jurisdiction of the federal courts. In our opinion, these cases are not applicable to the question here presented. Neither race nor color is involved in the term “citizen.” When used alone and without words of qualification, the term may have different meanings, depending upon the context in which it is found. As said in