Burton v. Wilmington Parking Authority PDF

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Skyler Riddle Burton v. Wilmington Parking Authority (1961) 6-3

Justice Clark

Facts: Plaintiff parked his car in the Wilmington parking garage, and went to the Eagle Coffee Shoppe. Plaintiff was denied service in the restaurant due to he was African American. The Wilmington Parking Authority is a city agency, and to increase their revenues the parking authority leased space in the building to private businesses, which includes the Eagle Coffee Shoppe. The coffee shop had a thirty-year lease. The state law permits restaurant operators to demy service to any person who would be offensive to a majority of customers or would injure the business. Plaintiff sued on the rights that the equal protection clause had been violated, and the Delaware Supreme Court reversed that ruling on the grounds that the restaurant was operating in a purely private capacity. Issue: Whether a private facility that is leased from a public facility must abide by the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, if there is a connection between the private facility and public facility? Held: Yes. Reasoning: The land and the building is publicly owned. Due to the private Wilmington Parking Authority acting as a parking garage to the public restaurant in regards to the parking garage relies on the rent from the restaurant for operating costs, the state is a party in this case. With that being said, the restaurant cannot be considered “purely private,” and therefore must abide by the Equal Protection Clause....