Hobson v. George Humphreys, Inc.

563 F.Supp. 344 (1982)

Purchase the Printed Copy at bsmsphd.com

Nature of the Case

To access this section all you need to do is click here and register.

Facts

Leeming died in 1981 and owned a condo. Her father sought to sell the condo as executor of the estate. George Humphreys solicited the father for a listing on the property. The property was listed for sale with Humphreys (D) with a price of $79,500. The father informed D that as a minimum, he wanted a net of $70,000 from the sale. Because of a depressed market, the father indicated that he may be willing to finance part of the sale if there was a down payment of $25-30K. Sandra and Clarese Hobson (P) were two black women who became interested in the property and contacted their real estate agent, Oliver Peyton and made arrangement to view the condo. P offered $69,000 with a $25,000 cash down payment assumption of the first mortgage and owner financing on the balance due for 5 years at 12% per month. D informed P that the offer was not acceptable. The price would have to be $79.5K and $30K down with three-year financing at 12%. P's agent stated that he was shocked by the response. When D presented the offer to his client, he informed the client that the agent who represented the parties was black. P began to suspect that race was playing a role and asked a white friend, Alice Mikesell, to call D and inquire about the terms. Alice was quoted $79.5K but was negotiable, and that owner financing over 3 years at 12% with $25K down was acceptable. P then contacted a nonprofit private agency that sent two testers to look at the property; one black and one white. The black tester was hardballed with a price of $2.5K more than the white tester and was given no information about owner financing as was the white tester. During trial, D stated that the prices were different only because of the interest displayed by the two testers. The case was tried without a jury.