Burton v. Wilmington Parking Authority

365 U.S. 715 (1961)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Wilmington Parking Authority (D) entered into long-term leases with tenants for commercial use of some space available in their projected garage building. A 20-year lease was entered into with Eagle Coffee Shoppe, Inc. for a space to be used as a restaurant. Under a Delaware statute, Eagle Coffee Shoppe was classified as a restaurant and not an inn, and therefore was not required to serve everybody who entered the shop. Burton (P) was refused service because he was a Negro. P sued for declaratory relief against D in the Court of Chancery, claiming that since the restaurant was D's lessee, and D was an agency of the state, that the discrimination was state action. The Chancellor concluded that whether the lease was a 'device' or was executed in good faith, it would not 'serve to insulate the public authority from the force and effect of the Fourteenth Amendment.' He found it not necessary, therefore, to pass upon the rights of private restaurateurs under state common and statutory law, including 24 Del.Code § 1501. The Supreme Court of Delaware reversed holding that Eagle, 'in the conduct of its business, is acting in a purely private capacity.' It, therefore, denied appellant's claim under the Fourteenth Amendment. It held that Eagle's operation was 'primarily a restaurant and thus subject to the provisions of 24 Del.C. § 1501, which does not compel the operator of a restaurant to give service of all persons seeking such.' The Supreme Court granted certiorari.