McCready v. Hoffius

586 N.W.2d 723 (Mich. 1998) ; Clearinghouse Number: 52253

Description

Michigan Civil Rights Act Protects Unmarried Cohabitants from Housing Discrimination

Abstract

The Michigan Supreme Court held that defendant landlords, in violation of the state’s civil rights law, discriminated against plaintiff prospective tenants on the basis of their marital status. Defendants refused to rent to plaintiffs when defendants learned that plaintiffs were single but intended to live together. Defendants told plaintiffs that unmarried cohabitation violated defendants’ religious beliefs. Granting defendants’ motion for summary judgment, the trial court held that unmarried cohabitation was not protected conduct under the civil rights law. The appellate court affirmed, and plaintiffs appealed. The supreme court held that defendants’ refusal to rent their apartments to plaintiffs solely because they were unmarried constituted marital status discrimination in violation of the civil rights law. Noting that plaintiffs’ marital status, and not their conduct in living together, was the root of defendants’ objection to renting apartments to plaintiffs, the court concluded that the civil rights law protected unmarried cohabitants against housing discrimination. The court rejected defendants’ argument that the civil rights law violated defendants’ religious freedom rights. Even assuming that defendants’ beliefs were sincerely held and religiously based and that the civil rights law imposed a burden on those beliefs, the court held that a compelling state interest in eradicating discrimination in real estate transactions justified the burden on defendants' religious beliefs.

Additional Information

Docket Date
1970-01-01 06:00:00+00:00

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