Pines

Introduction

Plaintiffs and respondents David Pines, George Aronek, doing business under the fictitious name of Grecian Art Tiles, and Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith (individually, Pines, Aronek, Grecian Art Tiles and the ADL, and collectively, respondents) brought an action against defendants and appellants W. R. Tomson and the Family of Faith Foundation (individually, Tomson and the Foundation, and collectively, appellants), charging violations of three California statutes which prohibit religious discrimination (Civ. Code, §§ 51, 51.5; Bus. & Prof. Code, § 16721; Bus. & Prof. Code, § 17200 et seq.). The trial court found for respondents and issued a wide-ranging judgment for injunctive and monetary relief. We affirm in part and reverse in part for the reasons stated below.

Facts

Since 1976, Tomson and his successor-in-interest, the Foundation, have owned and operated a business telephone directory called the “Christian Yellow Pages” (the CYP), which will only accept advertisements placed by a person who affirms orally and in writing that he has accepted Jesus Christ as his personal savior and is a “born-again” Christian.

Each CYP directory contains a full…