03/02/2020
Fair Housing Council v. Roommate. Com, LLC, 666 F. 3d 1216 - Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit 2012 - Google Scholar
666 F.3d 1216 (2012)
FAIR HOUSING COUNCIL OF SAN FERNANDO VALLEY; The Fair Housing Council of San
Diego, Plaintiffs-Appellees,
v.
ROOMMATE.COM, LLC, Defendant-Appellant.
Fair Housing Council of San Fernando Valley; The Fair Housing Council of San Diego,
Plaintiffs-Appellees,
v.
Roommate.com, LLC, Defendant-Appellant.
Fair Housing Council of San Fernando Valley; The Fair Housing Council of San Diego,
Plaintiffs-Appellees-Cross-Appellants, and
Fair Housing Council of San Gabriel Valley, Plaintiff,
v.
Roommate.com, LLC, Defendant-Appellant-Cross-Appellee.
Nos. 09-55272, 09-55875, 09-55969.
United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.
Argued and Submitted July 14, 2011.
Filed February 2, 2012.
1218 *1218 Elizabeth Brancart (argued), Christopher Brancart, Brancart & Brancart, Pescadero, CA, for the plaintiff-appellees
and cross-appellants.
Timothy L. Alger (argued), Susan B. Estrich, Scott B. Kidman, Christopher E. Price, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Hedges,
LLP, Los Angeles, CA, for the defendant-appellant and cross-appellee.
Before: ALEX KOZINSKI, Chief Judge, STEPHEN REINHARDT and SANDRA S. IKUTA, Circuit Judges.
Opinion by Chief Judge KOZINSKI; Partial Concurrence and Partial Dissent by Judge IKUTA.
OPINION
KOZINSKI, Chief Judge:
There's no place like home. In the privacy of your own home, you can take off your coat, kick off your shoes, let your
guard down and be completely yourself. While we usually share our homes only with friends and family, sometimes we
need to take in a stranger to help pay the rent. When that happens, can the government limit whom we choose?
Specifically, do the anti-discrimination provisions of the Fair Housing Act ("FHA") extend to the selection of roommates?
FACTS
Roommate.com, LLC ("Roommate") operates an internet-based business that helps roommates find each other.
Roommate's website receives over 40,000 visits a day and roughly a million new postings for roommates are created
each year. When users sign up, they must create a profile by answering a series of questions about their sex, sexual
orientation and whether children will be living with them. An open-ended "Additional Comments" section lets users
include information not prompted by the questionnaire. Users are asked to list their preferences for roommate
characteristics, including sex, sexual orientation and familial status. Based on the profiles and preferences, Roommate
matches users and provides them a list of housing-seekers or available rooms meeting their criteria. Users can also
search available listings based on roommate characteristics, including sex, sexual orientation and familial status.
The Fair Housing Councils of San Fernando Valley and San Diego ("FHCs") sued Roommate in federal court, alleging
that the website's questions requiring disclosure of sex, sexual orientation and familial status, and its sorting, steering
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