Nature of the Case
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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.
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