Littlefield v. Mcguffey

954 F.2d 1337 (7th Cir.1992)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

P met D at one of his apartment buildings. After viewing the advertised apartment, she completed a rental application form and gave him a $280 check as a security deposit, leaving the name of the payee blank at D's request. D and P had agreed she, her younger sister Sandra, and her daughter Shaunte would occupy the two-bedroom apartment and that D would purchase and install a carpet with P paying the cost of installation. D gave P a key to the apartment, and between then and September 27 she, members of her family, and friends cleaned and painted the apartment and moved various belongings into it. On September 27, 1988, Bruce Collins, accompanied by Shaunte, the two-year-old daughter of Collins and P, took a check to D to pay for the carpet installation. When D realized Mr. Collins was not the same race as P but was the father of her daughter, he became quite agitated and exclaimed: 'the old man' had rented the apartment to someone else. After Collins left, D called P at work and told her she could not rent the apartment because 'the boss' had rented it to someone else. He also told her he had changed the locks and had put her belongings out on the porch. That evening D called her at home, identified himself as Walley Luther, and, mimicking a stereotypical black manner of speaking, told her he wanted to move in with her and 'six black guys, . . . quit work and take welfare . . . and drugs with [her] . . . and swap wives with Bruce.' He called her at least two more times that night and several other times that week with similar, degrading messages. P's sister, Kathleen Gutierrez, was called many times over the next week or so. D told her he was a member of the Ku Klux Klan and regularly asked how her sister, Susanne, 'could have [gone] to bed with a nigger and how she could . . . have a nigger baby.' On one occasion D attempted to lure Ms. Gutierrez outside on the pretext that she had to move her car because the church lot where it was parked was being caulked. In early November D tracked down P's new residence and left a note, written on a napkin taped to her door, threatening the life of Bruce Collins and repeating racist slurs. When she arrived home that evening, P found her sister, Sandra, hiding behind the door, clutching a broom. P testified to all these events and more. P testified to numerous episodes of severe emotional distress. She became hysterical upon receiving D's call at work, went to the restroom, and cried; the rest of the day she suffered from stomach upset and diarrhea. She experienced numerous episodes of disquiet and fright, being particularly fretful because she feared for her daughter's safety. P also testified that when she came home at night with Shaunte, she would run from her car to her apartment, clutching her daughter in one arm, with her keys in one hand and a can of mace in the other. D denied the allegations, claiming he had not refused her rental housing on the basis of race and that he had not harassed her. He asserted, instead, he had learned from various businesses and prior landlords that she was a poor credit risk and had a history as an undesirable tenant. He presented no witnesses, however, that confirmed having given him the negative rental-history or credit information. P presented witnesses from credit departments of various businesses D claimed to have contacted. They generally testified the credit information D claimed to have acquired would not be given out and that P's credit history was respectable. The testimony of Brice Fawcett, P's former landlord contradicted everything D claimed. The jury found D liable and awarded $50,000 in compensatory damages and $100,000 in punitive damages. D appealed the judgment and the award of attorney's fees. P cross-appealed the denial of a fee multiplier.