Topic

This is an interlocutory appeal from the district court’s refusal to dismiss actions to enjoin three Los Angeles real estate brokers from alleged violations of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, 42 U.S.C. § 3604 , and the Civil Rights Act of 1866, 42 U.S.C. § 1982 . Jurisdiction in the district court was based on the Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3612 , and on 28 U.S.C. § 1343 (4). The plaintiffs are TOPIC, an unincorporated association, and three individual members. The district court denied the motion to dismiss, holding that plaintiffs had standing to sue under the Fair Housing Act.

TOPIC is an organization of approximately one hundred families, both black and white, living in the cities of Torrance and Carson, California, and in the unincorporated portion of Los Angeles County which lies between those cities. The declared purpose of TOPIC is to combat racial discrimination and eliminate race as a factor in the marketing of housing for the geographical area where its members reside.

During 1973 TOPIC used teams of black couples and white couples posing as home seekers to investigate the business practices of real estate brokers in Torrance and Carson. Based on this…