Chicago Layers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Inc., v. Craigslist, Inc.

Chicago Layers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Inc., v. Craigslist, Inc. 

2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 19347 

FACTS: The Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for the Civil Rights Under Law (CLC) sued Craigslist, Inc., which is a popular site and provides an electronic space for those who want to buy, sell or rent housing and many other goods and services, for violating the Fair Housing Act (FHA).

The suit alleged that Craigslist violated the FHA because certain housing and rental postings on Craigslist were discriminatory and discouraged certain customers from pursuing renting or buying a house. Some signs stated “NO MINORITIES” and “No children.”

Complaints from the CLC cited many housing ads from Craigslist that included gender references, race, nationality and religion, which were prohibited by the FHA.  

LEGAL ISSUE(S):  Did Craigslist violate the Fair Housing Act by allowing discriminatory advertisements on it site? 

COURT’S DECISION: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit court in 2008, up held the previous decision held by the U.S. District Court for Northern District of Illinois, 2006. The court granted summary judgment in favor of Craigslist under U.S.C.S 230 a federal law of the Communication Decency Act, which states, “No provider or user of an interactive computer services shall be treated as the publisher.”

RATIONALE: Craigslist gains 30 million users monthly and fewer than 30 people operate the system. They are physically not capable of keeping track of all first party advertisements. Since Craigslist only provides the platform and acts as a third party messenger, the court ruled in their favor under the federal law U.S.C.S 230. This law also protects many other websites that only provide the space online but do not count as content creators such as newspapers or news website organizations.

IMPLICATIONS: This case will set a future precedent for third party Internet sources allowing them to not be liable for the discriminatory language in their users advertisements.