Complaint Filed Against Eastern Delaware County, Pa. Real Estate Agencies; Annotated Press Release on Real Estate Co. Complaint

    505 

FROM: Norman Bloomfield 

The enclosed complaint was filed today (February 1) on 
behalf of black homeseekers and a fair housing group against six 
real estate companies Operating in Eastern Delaware County, Pa. 
The plaintiffs are represented by NAACP Legal Defense and 
Educational Fund attorneys, as well as by Atkinson, Myers, 
Archie & Wallace, Legal Defense Fund cooperating attorneys in 
Philadelphia. 

Filed in the u.s. District Court for the Eastern 
District of Philadelphia, the complaint alleges that the 
companies engage in racial steering in 20 communities in the 
Philadelphia suburban area. The defendant companies are: 
Carr Realty, Bruce Hudson, Inc., Dubson-Hudson Realtor, Spano 
Real Estate Co., wm. Cc. Taylor Real Estate-Insurance, and Arthur 
G. Wagner Real Estate. The Delaware County Board of Realtors 
also is joined in the action as a defendant. 

The suit seeks damages for the named Plaintiffs and 
class members, injunctive relief to prevent future violations of 
the fair housing laws, and a requirement that the realtors take 
affirmative action to overcome the effects of their Past unlawful 
practices. 



Norman Bloomfield 
NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. 
Ten Columbus Circle 
New York, New York 10019 

Telephone: 212 586-8397 K ) iE L 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

NEW YORK, N.Y., Jan. 27 - The NAACP Legal Defense and 

Educational Fund today filed suit against six real estate companies 

operating in a Philadelphia suburban area, charging that thé firms 

uniformly and consistently use racial steering techniques and other 

exclusionary devices to help maintain segregated housing throughout 

Eastern Delaware County, Pa. 

The suit, the first comprehensive racial steering action to 

be brought against realtors in Pennsylvania, alleges violation of 

federal fair housing laws in the sale and rental of housing in 15 

virtually all-white communities and 5 segregated £dqms “in that county. 

‘The case was filed in the U.S. Federal District Court for the Eastern 

District of Philadelphia. 

The companies charged with illegally steering black homeseekers 

to black neighborhoods and whites to white communities are: Carr 

Realty, Bricesiudson: Inc., Dubson-Hudson Realtor, Spano Real Estate 

Co., Wm. C. Taylor Real Estate-Insurance, and Arthur G. Wagner Real 

Estate. 

__The Delaware County Board of Realtors, charged with 

je es : a Ac ee meee! 
encouraging and facilitating the racially discriminatory policies and 

practices of its member firms, also v joined as a defendant in 

the action. rs 
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(more) 



The case was brought on behalf of black homeseekers and 

the interracial Lansdowne-Upper Darby Area Fair Housing Council 

following allegations that the realtors either refuse to deal with 

black customers, or engage in the practice of steering black cli 

exclusively to the county's few black neighborhoods. White clients 

with identical needs and income, however, are shown housing only in 

all-white communities, the complainants assert. 

Commenting on the case, the Legal Defense Fund's director- 

counsel, Jack Greenberg, said: “We have substanttalevidence-based 

on extensive-studtes~t6 support our contention that the-defendant 

Preeti ees once qee tente font or nearly identical_execlusionary tactices 

| to prevent—any~racial integration in white neighborhoods. 

"We are therefere asking the court to order an affirmative 

action sales policy to overcome the effects of their past discriminatory 

actions --- to require the realtors to change their practices in 

order to allow black homeseekers freedom Of choice in selecting 

housing throughout the county." : ex 

pa AO Aparte e ot DR cer el 
Unlike most suburban areas adjacent to inner cities, Eastern 

Delaware County has a wide variety of medium priced homes within the 

price range of many black families and readily accessible mass 

transportation to the city. However, black families are virtually 

excluded from all but a half-d$zen geographical pockets in 5 of the 

20 communities. 

The suit, Coleman v. Carr, seeks compensatory and punitive 

damages and injunctive relief on behalf the named plaintiffs and a 

class~of all sea ee who have sought homes in Eastern 

Delaware County. 

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The practically all-white communities referred to in 

the action are Aldan, Collingsdale, Colwyn, Clifton Heights, East 

Lansdowne, Folcroft, Glenolden, Havertown, Lansdowne, Marple, 

Millbourne, Sharon Hill, Springfield, Swarthmore, and Upper Darby. 

The majority of black resid ats in the county reside in 

all or almost all black communities located in Darby Borough, Darby 

Township, Folsom, a small area in Lansdowne, Morton and Yeadon. 

Attorneys for the plaintiffs are Bill oN Lee, Melvyn 

Leventhal and Beth J. Lief of the Legal Defense Fund staff, as well 

as Atkinson, Myers, Archie & Wallace, Legal Defense Fund cooperating 

attorneys in Philadelphia. 

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. is a 

completely separate organization, even though established by the 

NAACP in 1939. 

Contact: Bill Lee, Melvyn Leventhal or Beth Lief at the 

Legal Defense Fund in New York (212 586-8397) or the Legal Defense 

Fund's cooperating attorney in Philadelphia, Nolan Atkinson (215 546-1630).