Leo R. Fountila, Jr. v. Mary E. Carter

This is an appeal from a judgment and certain orders after judgment in a housing discrimination action brought, inter alia, under Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, 42 U.S.C. § 3601 et seq., also known as the Fair Housing Act, and under the Civil Rights Act of 1866, 42 U.S.C. § 1982 . The case was tried to a jury at defendant’s request which, after a three-day trial, returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs, awarding them actual damages in the amount of $1 and punitive damages in the amount of $5,000. Additionally, the court awarded attorneys’ fees to the plaintiffs in the amount of $2140. Defendant’s motions for a new trial and judgment notwithstanding the verdict were denied after oral argument.

I.

The Factual Background

Mrs. Carter, the defendant below, was a woman almost 72 years old at the time of trial in 1975. She owned a single-family house at 715 Lincoln Avenue in Redwood City, California which she and her husband had built and occupied with their family until approximately 1950. Subsequent to that time the house, which she acquired pursuant to a divorce in 1959, was used for rental purposes and Mrs. Carter rented a smaller dwelling for her own occupancy.…