Full opinion text
TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE I. BACKGROUND 1241 II. ALLEGED SECTION 3604(a) VIOLATIONS 1249 III. ALLEGED SECTIONS 3604(c) AND 3604(e) VIOLATIONS 1294 IV. STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS 1303 V. LIABILITY OF VINCENT T AVENI 1303 VI. INJURIES AND RELIEF 1305 VII. ORDER 1309 MEMORANDUM AND ORDER WILLIAM K. THOMAS, Senior District Judge. Tried to this court, the action of plaintiffs Heights Community Congress (also HCC or the Congress) and the City of Cleveland Heights (also City or Cleveland Heights) is based on Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, otherwise known as the Fair Housing Act, section 801 et seq., 42 U.S.C. § 3601, et seq. (1977). Plaintiffs assert claims against Hilltop Realty, Inc. (now known as HGM/Hilltop), its president and certain sales agents. Plaintiffs allege that Heights Community Congress, a not-for-profit corporation organized under the laws of the State of Ohio, seeks to promote and maintain Cleveland Heights as an open and integrated community, and has “endeavored to achieve this objective through the processes of education, negotiation, publication, community organization and litigation.” Plaintiffs further allege that the City of Cleveland Heights is a municipal corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Ohio. Plaintiff City seeks to continue to be a stable, integrated community, without resegregation in any part, for the benefit of its residents and all those who choose to live there'. The City has expended substantial monies, primarily through federal grants, on programs designed and implemented to accomplish these objectives. The case proceeded to trial on Counts II and III of the plaintiffs’ complaint. In their second cause of action, plaintiffs allege: Plaintiff Heights Community Congress has monitored the activities of the defendants since 1973 and found a pattern and practice of racially discriminatory housing practices by the defendants including locational steering by race, racial remarks, racial disparity in financing, racial differentiation in treatment and racially inconsistent advertising. In prosecuting this cause of action, plaintiffs charge defendants Hilltop, Vincent T. Aveni, John Mayfield, Evelyn Gardner and Shirley Bernstein with violations of 42 U.S.C. § 3604(a) and (c). In the third cause of action, plaintiffs assert unlawful discriminatory housing practices against sales agents of the defendant Hilltop Realty, noting among other things that within six months of the filing of the complaint “two (2) of defendant’s agents have been convicted in the Cleveland Heights Municipal Court of violations of the City’s anti-solicitation ordinance.” In prosecuting this cause of action, plaintiffs charge a violation of 42 U.S.C. § 3604(e) against defendants Val Vrana and Bruce Johanns. The defendants generally deny the allegations of plaintiffs in the second and third causes of action. In addition, defendants continue to assert that neither the City nor Heights Community Congress has established the necessary elements of standing to assert their claims in this action. The defendants further assert that both the City and HCC have failed to establish a causal relationship between alleged conduct of defendants and any alleged injuries. After a 12-week trial, counsel submitted post-trial briefs and argued the case orally on June 17, 1983. Thereupon, the case was submitted to the court for decision. I. BACKGROUND A. Cleveland Heights Plaintiff City of Cleveland Heights is a municipal corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Ohio and was chartered in 1921. The City is continguous to Cleveland on the west, East Cleveland and Cleveland on the north, South Euclid and University Heights on the east, and Shaker Heights on the South. The City’s government includes a council, a council-elected mayor and a council-appointed city manager. Professor Oliver Schroeder testified as to the diversity of the City. He described Cleveland Heights as a “built-up community” of used homes with a wide variety of styles and with house prices ranging from $30,000 to $250,000. Professor Schroeder observed that Cleveland Heights has “unique citizens,” e.g., “45 percent of the Cleveland Orchestra live in Cleveland Heights.” The City is “heavily professional,” and among its residents are employees of the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals. The City has a broad religious make-up, including a “strong Jewish population,” a “sizeable Catholic population,” and “strong Protestant churches.” Professor Schroeder described two home bombings in Cleveland Heights that were related to race. In October 1965, a house near Euclid Heights Boulevard was bombed. It was the home “in which the new director of the Karamu Theater, a black man and his family, had moved in.” The mayor and council issued a proclamation. As its author, Professor Schroeder remembers that the proclamation declared that the community was an open community, that any individuals who wished to conduct themselves in an orderly manner could buy in Cleveland Heights, and that all of the forces of police investigation would be used to prohibit “this kind of violation occurring in the community.” While Professor Schroeder was mayor in 1972, a home on Brinkmore in the northeast section of Cleveland Heights, owned by a black family, was bombed. When the bombing occurred, the mayor visited Mrs. Appling’s home and viewed the destruction. He reported: I assured her that just because she was black, this should never have happened, that we wanted her as a citizen and a resident of Cleveland Heights, and we hoped that we could help her get her home restored. A meeting of residents of the street was organized, which the mayor attended. He recommended that the residents create a street club to “give themselves protection and to build up an esprit de corps for their street and for their neighborhood that would continue to make it a very worthwhile place in which to live.” The change in demographics in Cleveland Heights in the decade 1970-1980 is demonstrated in the evidence. According to the United States census, Cleveland Heights had a population in 1970 of 57,767 and in 1980 a population of 56,438. In 1970, the census percentage of black residents in Cleveland Heights was 2.5 percent. By 1980, the census showed that the percentage of blacks in Cleveland Heights had grown to 24.9 percent (other minorities comprised an additional 2.1 percent). Census data for the 17 census tracts within the City reveal that in 1970 census tracts 1401 and 1405 each had zero percent black. The remaining 15 tracts ranged from a low of .5 percent black in census tract 1402, to 9.0 percent in census tract 1406. Census data for 1980 show a black population in each of the 17 census tracts. However, as the court noted in its March 17, 1983 memorandum and order, using the average black population for the City “conceals substantially higher non-white percentages in certain areas of the city.” Census tract 1413 had a black population of 5.8 percent, while census tract 1403 had a black population of 53.7 percent. Breaking the census tracts into two groups, eight range from 5.8 percent black to 15.9 percent black, and nine census tracts range from 24,0 percent black to 53.7 percent black, as the chart in the margin illustrates. Adjacent to Cleveland Heights, to the north, the city of East Cleveland experienced a dramatic rise in the black population in the late sixties. The 1970 census showed the black population at 58.6 percent. By 1980 the census showed a black population increase to 86.5 percent. This percentage indicates that overall, East Cleveland has become resegregated. Cleveland Heights census tract 1403 is 53.7 percent black, the highest concentration of blacks in a Cleveland Heights tract. It rose from .7 percent in 1970. Tract 1403 is adjacent to East Cleveland census tract 1502, which had an increase in its black population from 10.4 percent in 1970 to 65.3 percent in 1980. It is interesting to note that within Cleveland Heights tract 1403 there also is an ascertainable housing pattern. Within tract 1403, census block group 2 is 12 percent black according to 1980 census data. Block group 2 is located in the southeast corner of 1403 and at the point furthest away from East Cleveland. Moving toward East Cleveland, the next census block group is block group 1. Its population is 39.5 percent black. Successively closer to East Cleveland the percentages of blacks in block groups 3, 4, 6 and 5 are 55, 80, 80, and 67, respectively. Social statistician Edward J. McNeeley of the Cuyahoga Plan of Ohio, Inc., was asked on cross-examination by counsel for defendants, “Now, again, looking at Cleveland Heights figures as a whole, if we look at the figures from 1970 in your first report, which goes, I believe to ’77, and in your last report which takes it to 1980, is it fair to say that the greatest rate of change in the non-white minority population was in the early part of the decade, the first part of the decade, ’70 — ’75?” Mr. McNeeley answered, “I would say until ’76 but, yes.” Answering a follow-up question as to whether this rate of change “lessened substantially” in the period ’76-’80, Mr. McNeeley answered, “in most of the census tracts.” Professor Schroeder described action taken by the Cleveland Heights City Council to meet problems relating to race and housing. The first problem concerned real estate solicitation in the years 1966 and 1967. He recalled that on a particular street, “all of a sudden over a weekend, 19 for sale signs came up on the street, which had about 35 or 40 homes on it.” At a street club meeting he learned that “the whole street had been solicited and urged to put their homes up for sale.” The solicitation had been by real estate companies. Hilltop was not one of them. In 1967 City Council adopted an emergency ordinance which addressed “the problems created by racial discriminations in the real estate area,” according to Professor Schroeder. This ordinance forbade for sale signs on private residences. This ban became part of the 1970 zoning ordinance. Professor Schroeder stated that in 1972, while he was mayor, “there was a tremendous influx of telephone solicitations in several areas.” One area was the northeast Oxford area where the Brinkmore bombing occurred, and another was east of Lee Road between Mayfield and Cedar Roads. Many of the street club representatives came to Council and demanded that it stop the telephone solicitation. Council responded by passing an emergency anti-telephone solicitation ordinance which put the burden on the citizens: “If you don’t want to be called, you sign this card. Your name will go on the no-call list and you will not be solicited.” At the six-month expiration of the emergency anti-solicitation ordinance, a voluntary PAL program was ' instituted. The program provided a listing of “preferred” agents who the City would advertise as “the people to see if you desire to live or buy a home in Cleveland Heights.” In return, the agent would take a training course on the benefits of Cleveland Heights and agree not to solicit. The voluntary plan “worked modestly.” City Council in 1976 adopted Resolution No. 26-1976 and Ordinance No. 27-1976. Resolution No. 26-1976 established the components of a comprehensive real estate program. One component was the preferred agent program, and another was expanded community and public relations. The resolution also established a Financial Institution Advisory Committee (FIAC) and provided for cooperation with other municipalities and organizations in the county area “seeking to open up all of the Cuyahoga County to open housing, completely free market.” Ordinance No. 27-1976, still in force, prohibits discrimination in housing, block busting, and real estate steering. Home solicitations are barred if the homeowner has filed a written notice not to be solicited. The ordinance also provides for the establishment of the Cleveland Heights Housing Board to monitor the operation of the ordinance. The ordinance further provides misdemeanor penalties for persons who violate the various prohibitions. Mrs. Barbara Roderick became housing coordinator for Cleveland Heights in November 1970. Her major responsibility was to assist in organizing street clubs and neighborhood meetings, to receive complaints from residents, and to try to reduce anxiety associated with black families moving into Cleveland Heights. Her office also worked with the real estate brokers who were most active in Cleveland Heights to “create a stable real estate market and not a panicked one.” After the adoption of the resolution and ordinance, Mrs. Roderick, in April 1976, assumed the title of Commissioner of Real Estate Programs. She supervised the Housing Service “to establish ... a Preferred Agents Program, to work with the industry and [to] work with residents around real estate issues.” In November 1979 Mrs. Roderick ended her Cleveland Heights employment to engage in private business. The foregoing summary of evidence demonstrates the City’s affirmative efforts to maintain Cleveland Heights as an open, stable, integrated community and to prevent resegregation. B. Heights Community Congress In 1972 a group of women members of St. Ann’s Roman Catholic Parish in Cleveland Heights became interested in housing patterns in Cleveland Heights and other suburbs. They formed the St. Ann’s Social Action Housing Committee. After receiving instruction from Dr. Julia Saltman, see infra pp. 19-20, the committee performed an audit of ten real estate firms, including Hilltop Realty, between June and August 1972. The Housing Committee prepared a written report and made oral reports to the city councils of Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights. A copy of the report of the audit was sent on September 1, 1972 to Vincent T. Aveni, president, Cleveland Area Board of Realtors (CABOR), indicating that it was a “Real Estate Audit in the eastern suburbs of Cleveland.” Subsequently, representatives of the St. Anne’s Social Action Housing Committee met with Mr. Aveni. Formed in the last months of 1972, a group called the Housing Task Force became the Housing Task Force of the Heights Community Congress. The latter organization was formally chartered as an Ohio corporation not for profit on January 4, 1973. As stated in the HCC’s code of regulations: The Heights Community Congress is a non-partisan coalition of religious, civic, educational, neighborhood and community organizations in the Cleveland Heights, University Heights area and representatives of city government, with a common objective of promoting and maintaining an open and integrated community of the highest quality. Membership in the corporation includes designated classes of membership and neighborhood organizations. Activities of the Congress are primarily carried on through 13 task forces. Only the activities of the Housing and Open Housing Task Force are of relevance in this case. By agreement dated May 30, 1974, the City engaged the Congress to provide a “Heights Housing Service” for a period of six months beginning June 1, 1974 for stipulated monthly payments. Pursuant to this agreement, the “Heights Housing Service” was established to escort prospects throughout the entire City before looking at specific homes for purchase, to assist buyers and sellers with their housing needs, and to “promote an open community whereby access to housing will be available to all home seekers in the total city.” As part of the comprehensive program established by Resolution No. 26-1976, the City took over the Heights Housing Sérvice in June 1976. Thereafter, the City administered the escort service. The Open Housing Task Force performed an audit of Hilltop and other firms from approximately July through September 1973 under the direction of Susan Nigro. After the results were compiled and a report was prepared, representatives of HCC met with the City to discuss the results. Charles H. “Chip” Bromley started to work for HCC in mid-1973 as a community organizer. After Mrs. Nigro shifted her duties from the Open Housing Task Force to organizing and directing the Heights Housing Service, Mr. Bromley became the HCC staff person working with the Open Housing Task Force. Under Mr. Bromley’s direction, real estate firms who were members of the exclusive multiple listing exchange and parties to the U.S. District Court consent decree, see supra note 1, were audited in the summer of 1975. Based on the results of the audit, Mr. Bromley prepared a report and recommendations which were submitted to the City in late 1975 or early 1976. He noted that some of the written recommendations to the City were embodied in the comprehensive housing program legislation. Under HCC’s May 1976 contract with the City to monitor real estate practices in the City of Cleveland Heights, see supra note 11, the Open Housing Task Force conducted an audit of Hilltop and seven other real estate companies in August 1976. The Open Housing Task Force completed another audit of fair housing practices in Cleveland Heights in July 1977, as evidenced by letters of September 15, 1977 and February 16,1978 to checkers from the chairperson of the Open Housing Task Force. Within the limited purpose for which this letter was received in evidence, the letter records that “[nineteen real estate companies (31 completed agent checks) were audited between April and December 1977.” Pursuant to Resolution No. 16-1976, which provided for a “study to be conducted by the City of the availability of housing within the community and other aspects of the housing delivery system within the community,” the City entered an agreement with HCC on February 24, 1978. For the fee of $9,500 the Congress agreed to “complete a minimum of sixty (60) housing survey checks, said checks to be made by matched pairs of white and black personnel.” The Congress further agreed to “work under the direction and supervision of Juliet Saltman, Ph.D., a consultant under contract to the City.” Dr. Saltman had served as a consultant with the HUD National Audit of Housing Opportunity. Dr. Saltman explained that the HUD audit was “designed to measure the extent of equal housing opportunity in the country as a way of determining the impact of the fair housing law” and not “for litigation, per se.” Dr. Saltman agreed that the “gist or the premise of the methodology used in the HUD audit” is thus correctly stated in the audit executive summary entitled “Measuring Racial Discrimination in American Housing Markets:” Two individuals of the same sex are matched as closely as possible in terms of age, general appearance, income and family size; that is, in every relative way except skin color. The two individuals request identical housing and carefully record their respective experiences on standardized reporting forms. The quantity and quality of information and service provided to each are then compared and any systematic difference in treatment accorded black auditors and white auditors is presumed to be because of race. Asked if the black and white checkers should have similar educational background, Dr. Saltman stated “only commensurate with their occupational status.” However, the “size of housing” and “the area preferred” both “had to be the same.” However, the checkers were instructed not to use exactly the same words in giving “the area preferred.” She agreed that the “price range also had to be identical.” The “down-payment” is not to be identical but “had to mean the same things.” Dr. Saltman agreed that the purpose of making these factors “identical between the black and the white checker was so that you could determine whether the difference in treatment was then attributable to race.” This court concludes that the HUD-type audit, used nationally in 1977 and employed in the Cleveland Heights 1978 spring audit, is a generally valid method of detecting disparate treatment of prospective home owners based on race. However, as one of its specifications, the audit methodology limits the number of homes shown that the checker must report in the audit form to three, although she may have been offered or shown more by the agent. Three home showings before a purchase is not reflective of the experience of the large majority of actual home buyers called as witnesses by both plaintiffs and the defendants. Hence, in evaluating each audit, the court has taken into account any homes in excess of three that were offered to be shown by an agent to a particular checker. During the 1978 spring audits, 35 randomly selected real estate companies were audited in 60 office visits by the 14 checkers (seven black, seven white, all female) from Tuesday, April 4 through Saturday, April 8, and from Monday, April 10 through Friday, April 14. Company real estate sales agents showed homes to the checkers by following up on the office visits. Each checker was directed to limit home showings reported in the audit to three. The seven black checkers and the seven white checkers formed seven pairs, with each counterpart checker auditing the same company. After the white checker had visited the real estate company office, the black checker was to complete her separate audit within 24 hours of the white checker’s audit. Each checker completed a multiple choice audit report, a narrative statement, and a supplementary report immediately after the audit. No more than three homes shown to the checker were reported in the audit form. The checkers took the completed forms to the office of the Heights Community Congress where the audit supervisors reviewed the forms. The supervisors made their determinations with reference to the presence or absence of differences of treatment between the black and white checkers. With respect to the spring 1978 audits, Dr. Saltman “analyzed the summaries, examined some of the individual audits, and went over the evaluation of the supervisors of the audits in reaching conclusions which are contained in [her 70-page report submitted to the City].” On grounds stated by the court, but which need not be repeated here, the court ruled that the report was inadmissible. In conducting the fall 1978 audits, HCC acted independently of the City. From October 18 through October 21 and from October 24 through October 28, 1978, eight checkers (four black, four white, all female) completed audits of 17 real estate companies, including Hilltop Realty. Later, on November 19, open house audits of particular agents were conducted. Except for the inclusion of some individual agent audits, the fall audits followed the methodology of the 1978 spring audit. The spring 1978 auditor’s manual was given to the checkers to read, and other training procedures used in the spring were followed in the fall. At the conclusion of each audit, the checker filled out the auditor’s report form and turned it in to a supervisor for review and evaluation. It is determined that HCC applied the HUD-style methodology found to be generally valid by this court. Based on the results of the spring and fall audits, the HCC requested that the City join it in filing a law suit against Hilltop. The city manager and law director made the decision to file the lawsuit after the City had been told by HCC the results of the fall 1978 series of audits. C. Hilltop Realty Hilltop Realty, Incorporated, an Ohio corporation for profit, incorporated in 1953, now carries on its business as “HGM/Hilltop.” Its principal office is in the Hilltop building in Lyndhurst, Ohio. The Lyndhurst or Hillcrest office of Hilltop is also located in the same building. At times relevant to the events of this law suit, Hilltop maintained a Cleveland Heights office at Mayfield Road and Warrensville Center Road. This office was closed in 1980. Hilltop has offices in other communities in the eastern suburbs of Cleveland. II. ALLEGED SECTION 3604(a) VIOLATIONS A. The Law Racial steering, while not specifically mentioned in the Act, is proscribed by that portion of 3604(a) which makes it unlawful to “otherwise make unavailable or deny a dwelling to any person because of race____” United States v. Mitchell, 580 F.2d 789 (5th Cir.1978); Zuch v. Hussey, 394 F.Supp. 1028 (E.D.Mich.1975), aff'd and remanded, 547 F.2d 1168 (6th Cir.1977). Unlawful racial steering was defined in Zuch as follows: the use of a word or phrase or action by a real estate broker or salesperson which is intended to influence the choice of a prospective property buyer on a racial basis. [Emphasis added.] Zuch, 394 F.Supp. at 1047. Under this definition, intent to steer must be shown to prove unlawful racial steering. United States v. Welles-Bowen Co., Equal Opportunity in Housing (P-8), ¶ 15,314, at 15,762 (N.D.Ohio 1979) (citing Zuch), aff'd, 673 F.2d 1331 (6th Cir.1981). Courts have held that if there is proof of significant “discriminatory effect,” then this may be sufficient to show a violation of the Fair Housing Act, even without direct proof of discriminatory intent. Mitchell, 580 F.2d at 791; United States v. City of Parma, Ohio, 494 F.Supp. 1049 (N.D.Ohio 1980); aff'd in relevant part, 661 F.2d 562 (6th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 456 U.S. 926, 102 S.Ct. 1972, 72 L.Ed.2d 441 (1982). The statistical evidence presented in this case is not sufficient to permit a finding of “significant discriminatory effect.” Therefore, in the instant case plaintiffs must show intent to racially steer. It is not necessary for the steering to be successful in order for the act to violate section 3604(a), for attempts to steer are also proscribed. Zuch, 394 F.Supp. at 1048. In Zuch, the court held: The fact that the defendants did not succeed in steering the plaintiffs away from the transitional neighborhoods of Detroit is not relevant; the law makes it unlawful even to attempt. Smith v. Sol D. Adler Realty, 436 F.2d 344, 349-50 (7th Cir.1971)...; Brown v. State Realty Company, 304 F.Supp. 1236, 1241 (N.D.Ga.1969)____ Were it otherwise, the damage to be done by steering would have to be inflicted first before the actions could be challenged. Such a requirement would fail to serve the purpose of the Act. Id. Furthermore, the test used to determine whether a statement constitutes' racial steering in violation of section 3604(a) is not the effect of the racial statement on the hearer of the statement, but rather the effect the statement would have if heard by a reasonable person under the circumstances who is seeking housing. A broker may be held liable for the racial steering of its agents. If an individual sales agent engages in an act of racial steering, and if that act or statement is made within the sales agent’s course and scope of employment with a real estate broker, it may be imputed to the broker. Marr v. Rife, 503 F.2d 735, 740-42 (6th Cir.1974); Northside Realty Assoc., Inc. v. United States, 605 F.2d 1348, 1354 (5th Cir.1979). In their post-trial brief, plaintiffs support their second cause of action, which alleges “a pattern and practice of racially discriminatory housing practices by the defendants, including locational steering by race,” by relying on cases which have construed the Attorney General’s right under section 3613. This section allows the Attorney General to bring an action for injunctive or other relief when he has reasonable cause to believe that a person or persons are “engaged in a pattern or practice of resistance to rights granted by the Act.” No similar language is contained in section 3612, which provides for enforcement by private persons of rights secured by section 3604 and other sections. However, earlier in plaintiffs’ trial brief, and similarly during the trial, they alternatively argued that “the substance of the complaint” is “the concept of the ‘continuing violation’ ” as set out in Havens Realty Corp. v. Coleman, 455 U.S. 363, 102 S.Ct. 1114, 71 L.Ed.2d 214 (1982). Havens, decided during the life of this case, was a private action for damages and injunctive relief brought under section 3612 in which acts of racial steering in violation of section 3604 were charged by a black renter and two “tester plaintiffs,” for themselves and a designated class, and by the organization Housing Opportunities Made Equal (HOME). As plaintiffs suggest, the Court’s decision on the issue of the 180-day limitations period of section 3612(a) affects this court’s treatment of the nature of the claim which the plaintiffs are bringing. The Court refused to literally read the Act so that alleged violations that occurred prior to 180 days of the filing of the suit were time barred. The Court dismissed so strict a reading by stating that a “wooden application of 812(a), which ignores the continuing nature of the alleged violation, only undermines the' broad remedial intent of Congress embodied in the Act.” Id. at 380, 102 S.Ct. at 1125. Finding that the statute of limitations was meant to bar only stale claims, the Court concluded that where a plaintiff, pursuant to the Fair Housing Act, challenges not just one incident of conduct violative of the Act, but an unlawful practice that continues into the limitations period, the complaint is timely when it is filed within 180 days of the last asserted occurrence of that practice. Id. Since the Havens holding on the statute of limitations issue is controlling, this court need not rule on whether or not a pattern or practice action as defined in section 3613 cases may be brought by the plaintiffs under section 3612, and if so, whether such a claim has been proved. Applying Havens, 455 U.S. at 380, 102 S.Ct. at 1125, the court treats plaintiffs’ claim as one which charges separate acts of racial steering by Hilltop agents which comprise “an unlawful practice that continues into the limitations period.” Accordingly, those alleged violations that occurred prior to 180 days of the filing of this suit will not be time barred if plaintiffs can show that the alleged incidents violated the Fair Housing Act and constituted an unlawful practice which continued into the 180-day limitations period. The court turns to the audits chronologically beginning with the 1976 audits. B. Claimed Steering Incidents (1) Spagnolo-Kuzma Plaintiffs compare the treatment of white checker Edward Kuzma with the treatment of black checker Hattie Spagnolo as a first steering incident. Edward Kuzma and his wife visited an open house on Dorset Road in Lyndhurst on August 15, 1976. As a result of that open house, Mr. Bill Weir of the Hillcrest office of Hilltop showed the Kuzmas four houses in South Euclid, Highland Heights, and Richmond Heights. Mrs. Spagnolo had been told to go to the open house and learned from an advertisement in the Sunday paper of its location on Dorset Road in Lyndhurst. Instead of attending the same Sunday open house as told, Mrs. Spagnolo called on Monday and made an appointment for Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. That morning she postponed the appointment until 3:00 p.m. At 2:45 p.m. a lady from the office called to say that Mr. Weir was not in the office. Mrs. Spagnolo said that she immediately called back “in a white tone of voice” and asked if Mr. Weir was there. He was. She hung up and immediately called again and identified herself. She asked him when she could see the house on Dorset. He answered, “I don’t think you can see it.” However, he told her to call him back at 6:00 p.m. At 6 o’clock she called him back, and he told her that it was not possible because the seller’s child was ill. When Mr. Weir offered to show her another house in the same area, she told him that she didn’t want to go because it was too late. Mr. Weir testified that he did not show Mrs. Spagnolo any homes because she broke their appointment. Plaintiffs argue: Spagnolo, the black checker, was denied access to the Dorset house in Lyndhurst through cancellation of her afternoon appointment (and the agent’s inartful attempt to pass it off as the checkers doing), and the later excuse about a sick child which prevented a showing of the house that evening, without an accompanying offer by the agent to show the house at a later time. Plaintiffs contrast the showing of four homes to the Kuzmas. When Mrs. Spagnolo was asked if she told Mr. Weir that she was black, she answered, “I have never told anyone I was black.” Moreover, her account of the various conversations with persons at the Hillcrest office of Hilltop and with Mr. Weir offers nothing from which the court may infer that Mr. Weir knew that Mrs. Spagnolo was black. Not finding that plaintiffs have proved that Mr. Weir knew that Mrs. Spagnolo was black, the court cannot and does not reach the question of whether in dealing with Mrs. Spagnolo, Mr. Weir intended to racially steer her from access to the Dorset Road home in Lyndhurst. It is concluded that plaintiffs have failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that Hilltop Realty engaged in racial steering in the circumstances of the Kuzma-Spagnolo audit of Hilltop in August 1976. B.(2) Tufts — Pap Black checker Sheryl Porter Tufts and white checker Patricia Pap audited Hilltop sales agent John Mayfield. The audit began on August 22, 1976 when each checker visited an open house at 1688 Maple Road, Cleveland Heights. The two checkers gave Mr. Mayfield substantially the same specifications. Mrs. Tufts said she was looking for a home in Cleveland Heights or South Euclid while Ms. Pap and Ken Kowaleski requested the eastern suburbs. At the end of her inspection of the home on Maple Road, Mr. Mayfield gave Ms. Tufts his card and mentioned that “we would be getting back together.” When Mr. Mayfield did hot call Ms. Tufts by August 31, 1976, nine days later, she called him. He told her that he was going on a Labor Day vacation and would get back to her after that. On September 9, Mr. Mayfield called Ms. Tufts. He told her that “he had a house that he would like to show [her] that was on 175th and South Miles.” She told him “[she] wouldn’t be able to see that one.” Asked about the racial composition of that area, she answered, “I believe it was predominantly black in that area.” Mr. Mayfield then invited her to an open house at 2159 Taylor Road attended to by him. When she arrived at the open house, he let her wander around on her own. She testified that Mr. Mayfield stated “he did want to get together with my husband and myself.” Ms. Tufts admitted that on at least two occasions Mr. Mayfield asked her to come to the office so he could “run [information on her housing requirements] through the computer, and [she] did not do that.” Asked why not, she stated: “Well, I didn’t have — he wanted to meet my husband, and I didn’t have a husband to take with me.” Defendants argue: There is simply no viable claim of lack of service to Tufts. Mayfield tried to service her, but she simply was not willing to meet with him. The evidence bears out this contention. But this argument does not meet plaintiffs’ claim of racial steering with reference to Ms. Tufts. Mr. Mayfield on September 9 suggested a home to Ms. Tufts at 175th and Miles, “predominantly black in that area” and also an area in which she had expressed no interest to Mr. Mayfield. The other home he suggested was the home at 2159 Taylor Road, which she stated in her checker’s report was “on the edge of Cleveland Heights.” The court judicially notes that 2159 Taylor Road (North Taylor Road) is adjacent to East Cleveland, whose population in 1977 was 77 percent black. It is inferred that the home at 2159 Taylor Road was in a neighborhood more integrated than the Cleveland Heights city-wide average level of integration. In conjunction with Mr. Mayfield’s suggestion of the South Miles Road house and the Taylor Road house to Ms. Tufts, statements made by Mr. Mayfield to Ms. Tufts at the Maple Road open house bear on his intent and frame of mind. Ms. Tufts testified that in her discussion with Mayfield, he started telling [her] that there had been a white lady that had looked at the house, and she decided not to take the house because there were too many black people in the area. She also stated that he “started pointing out some of the houses where the white people lived and where black people lived.” During defendants’ examination of Mr. Mayfield, he denied discussing the “racial make up of [the] neighborhood around [the] Maple Road home” with any prospect at anyone of his open houses. This broad denial of the specific quotation attributed to him by Ms. Tufts is not credited. Ms. Tufts’ report of Mr. Mayfield’s statements at the open house is credited. These statements of Mr. Mayfield, considered together with the showings, are deemed to have been made by Mr. Mayfield to influence the housing choices of Ms. Tufts. Therefore, it is concluded that in violation of section 3604(a), Mr. Mayfield racially steered Ms. Tufts toward both a predominantly black area outside of Cleveland Heights and to a more integrated area within Cleveland Heights. Mr. Mayfield also made racial statements to Ms. Tufts’ white counterparts, Patricia Pap and Ken Kowaleski, on August 22, 1976 at the Maple Road open house and later at his office. At the open house he told a story about his brother-in-law buying from a black family a house which he needed to fumigate before moving into it. At the office, while going over house listings, Mr. Mayfield said that they were lucky to be white because they could get a better deal. When asked why, “he said it was just human nature, that owners prefer selling to whites.” He added that “they sold to whites 80 percent of the time, and that was the way it should be.” On August 25, 1976, Mr. Mayfield showed homes to Ms. Pap and Mr. Kowaleski on 3730 Monticello Boulevard, 1005 Englewood Road, and 2054 Revere Road in Cleveland Heights. As Mr. Mayfield stated to Ms. Pap after they left the house on Englewood, “The neighborhood wasn’t very integrated.” Ms. Pap testified that Mr. Mayfield noted: There was a high demand for white buyers and that all of the agents knew this and showed them the neighborhood first. Further, on leaving the Revere Road property, Mr. Mayfield stated that: [H]e preferred the Englewood area. He said that it wasn’t as integrated as the area around Revere and never would be. Mr. Mayfield’s comments to Ms. Pap and Mr. Kowaleski relating to Revere and Englewood are weighed in connection with their request to see properties in the eastern suburbs. In other words, they did not specifically ask to see properties in Cleveland Heights, although they did fix a price range of $25,000-$30,000. Ms. Pap’s testimony further shows that Mr. Mayfield passed over three homes in their stated price range: 18005 Chagrin Boulevard in the Lomond school district and 3733 Menlo Road in the Moreland school district in Shaker Heights; and 927 Caledonia, Cleveland Heights, in the Caledonia school district. These properties were listed on the computer print-outs obtained by Mr. May-field for Ms. Pap and Mr. Kowaleski at his office Sunday afternoon, August 22, 1976. With reference to these three properties, Mr. Mayfield stated that “[you] wouldn’t be interested in them.” Asked why, Ms. Pap said he answered, “Those neighborhoods weren’t integrated anymore, that they were black, and that even blacks were reluctant to buy in the neighborhood.” Mr. Mayfield’s statements, which diverted Ms. Pap and Mr. Kowaleski from consideration of those three properties located inside and outside of Cleveland Heights in “neighborhoods [that] weren’t integrated anymore” and his comments relating to Revere and Englewood together constitute actions on his part which “ma[d]e unavailable or denped] a dwelling to [a] person because of race” in violation of section 3604(a). It is so concluded. The statements of Mr. Mayfield, made on August 22, 1976 to Ms. Pap at the Maple Road open house and to her and Mr. Kowaleski in his office, corroborate Mr. Mayfield’s locational steering with reference to checkers Pap and Kowaleski. B.(3) McGee — Butterfield The next audit claimed to involve racial steering was of John Mayfield. This audit, conducted by black checker Sandra McGee and white checker Hester Butter-field, began with an open house in May 1977 at 3395 DeSota Avenue, Cleveland Heights. Mrs. McGee visited the open house on DeSota about 3:30 in the afternoon. As she viewed the house, Mrs. McGee informed Mr. Mayfield that she presently owned a home on Berkeley, the street next to DeSota, and that she was “looking for a brick or an exceptional frame ... in the Hillcrest/Heights area.” She gave Mr. Mayfield a price range in the “upper $30’s and lower SjS40’s.” He asked where she was interested, and she told him, “South Euclid, Lyndhurst and Cleveland Heights.” He told her that “Lyndhurst would be a little bit on the high side for [her] price.” As for South Euclid, he said “that’s on the Lyndhurst side.” He said that something could be done in Cleveland Heights. Three days later she called Mr. Mayfield and arranged for him to give her a computer print-out at her home. He brought over a print-out of South Euclid and went over it with her. When she asked where the printout for Cleveland Heights was, he said he would bring it to her the next day, but did not. On May 18 she called him and said she was interested in five or six homes on the South Euclid print-out which he had left with her. He told her that the homes were “sold or sales pending.” Arrangements to go out and see homes were then discussed. He suggested they meet on Friday at 11:00 a.m., but she told him “that wasn’t a good day.” She then suggested Saturday, and he responded that he “would call her on Thursday and we could arrange something.” However, at no time did he later get in touch with her. At trial, Mr. Mayfield remembered the open house on DeSota but had no recollection of Sandra McGee. In view of his nonrecollection of Sandra McGee, no evidentiary basis is perceived for defendants’ argument that there is a substantial likelihood that he would have viewed her simply as a “shopper” since she came from church on a Sunday and lived on the adjacent street. Although Mrs. McGee no longer has the South Euclid computer print-out, it is determined that Mr. Mayfield, delivered it to her as she testified. It is not probable that on May 11 the homes on the South Euclid print-out were apparently available, and on May 18 all five or six properties she inquired about were “sold or sales pending,” as Mr. Mayfield told Mrs. McGee. However, in the absence of the print-out it is impossible to determine the accuracy of his report. Nonetheless, it is found from the evidence that Mr. Mayfield’s failure to provide a further South Euclid print-out, his failure to deliver a Cleveland Heights printout as promised, and his failure to call her back after Thursday, May 18, as promised, or at any other time to arrange a time to show homes to Sandra McGee, combine to “make unavailable or deny a dwelling to” her “because of race.” It was, therefore, a violation of section 3604(a). When Mr. Mayfield’s treatment of Sandra McGee is compared with his treatment of white checkers Don McKelvey and his wife Hester Butterfield, Mr. Mayfield’s lack of service to Sandra McGee is even more pronounced. Even though Mr. McKelvey did not go to-the open house, he was able to arrange a viewing of the same house, and later he and his wife met with Mr. Mayfield at the Hilltop office. There, some ten homes were jointly selected by Mr. Mayfield, Mr. McKelvey and Hester Butterfield. Mr. Mayfield showed them three of those homes, all located in Cleveland Heights. B.(4) Embry — Caron Black checker Dorothy Embry and white checker Brian Caron each visited the November 13, 1977 open house at 2086 North Taylor, Cleveland Heights, close to the Cleveland Heights — East Cleveland border. The Hilltop agent “sitting” at the open house was William Howard. Dorothy Embry stated that she arrived at the open house at “4:14.” When Mr. Howard asked her what type of house she was looking for, she answered: “a four-bedroom house in the mid $50’s to lower $60’s.” As to location she recalled saying eastern suburbs. She did not recall whether she said Cleveland Heights and eastern suburbs or “merely eastern suburbs.” At trial she did not recall at first asking Mr. Howard for the school district, but did recall this when her memory was refreshed from her deposition. The school district is the Caledonia school district of East Cleveland. After Mr. Howard took her around the house, she left. Two days later, Mr. Howard called to ask her if she was “really interested in purchasing the house on Taylor, because he had another offer, and that he had lined up some other homes for us to see.” An appointment was set up for the next Friday at the Hilltop office on Mayfield Road. Mr. and Mrs. Embry and their two sons went to the office where they met Mr. Howard. After answering several of Mr. Howard’s financial qualifying questions, they left to see the homes which he had selected. The first house was on Henley in East Cleveland, the second at 1231 Hereford in Cleveland Heights, and the third was at 2086 North Taylor Road in Cleveland Heights where the open house had been held. After visiting the house at 2086 North Taylor Road, they returned to the Hilltop office. In her comments on her audit report she stated: As we returned to the office Mr. Howard said he would line up other houses in some other eastern suburbs. He did not give any specifics. When Mr. Howard called Mrs. Embry, she told him that she was no longer interested in seeing any other homes. The homes he showed to Mr. and Mrs. Embry were all in the predominantly black Caledonia school district, either in predominantly black East Cleveland or in an adjacent more integrated area of Cleveland Heights. However, any inference of racial steering of Mr. and Mrs. Embry by agent Howard is neutralized by Mrs. Embry’s admission that Mr. Howard offered to show them homes in the eastern suburbs, but they rejected this offer. White checker Brian Caron also spoke to agent Howard at the Taylor Road open house. He had a conversation with Mr. Howard in which the housing characteristics that he gave were generally the same as those Mrs. Embry gave to Mr. Howard. Before leaving the Taylor Road open house, he told Mr. Howard: It’s probably not exactly what we were looking for, we generally would like to see more houses on the east side, we do like the feature of the land, but we would like to look at more houses, would you please contact us relative to showing us more houses and seeing if we can find something that we like. When Mr. Caron did not hear from Mr. Howard, he called him on November 16. Mr. Howard returned his call on the 18th and explained that he would “not be able to show [him] houses as he had prior engagements out of town or was planning to be out of town.” He then explained that there was a realtor available that could show me houses I would be interested in, a Mr. Mayfield, it was a type of a three-way conversation where I was introduced to Mr. Mayfield and told that he would be happy to show me anything I would be interested in. After several unsuccessful attempts to arrange a mutually convenient appointment time, Mr. Mayfield rescheduled the appointment for December 3. Mr. Caron said that he met Mr. Mayfield at the Hilltop office. Mr. Mayfield then drove him to a home at 374 Belvoir in South Euclid. It was Mr. Caron’s understanding that “there was a specific house that [Mr. Mayfield] wished to show [him] and that he thought met [his] needs.” Although Mr. Mayfield did not recall Brian Caron by name, he did recall showing Bill Howard’s prospect a ranch on Belvoir. Mr. Mayfield also remembered that after Mr. Howard came back to town he “gave [Mr. Howard] the prospect back.” Mr. Caron has lost all recollection as to whether it was Mr. Howard who picked out the house on Belvoir. However, his audit report, shown to him at trial, indicated that “Howard talked about a house in Forest Hills as well as the house in South Euclid,” and Mr. Caron said that sounded correct. Upon returning to the Hilltop office, Mr. Mayfield prepared a computer print-out of additional homes as suggestions to Mr. Caron. The homes on this list were in Cleveland Heights, University Heights and one in Shaker Heights. Most, however, were in Cleveland Heights. Mr. Mayfield gave him a computer print-out, but later Mr. Caron called Mr. Mayfield to say that he had no interest in purchasing a home. Upon all the relevant evidence, it is concluded that it was Mr. Howard and not Mr. Mayfield who recommended the Belvoir home to Mr. Caron, the white checker. Thus, Mr. Howard was responsible for the showing of a home outside of Cleveland Heights in a predominantly white eastern suburb to Mr. Caron. Nevertheless, any inference that Hilltop, through the combined conduct of Mr. Howard and Mr. May-field, steered Mr. Caron into a suburb east of Cleveland Heights is rebutted by Mr. Mayfield’s submission of a list of homes to Mr. Caron on December 3, the majority of which were in Cleveland Heights. Hence, it is concluded that the plaintiffs have not established racial steering on the part of either Mr. Howard or Mr. Mayfield with reference to either black checker Dorothy Embry or white checker Brian Caron. B.(5) Perry-Blaser (April 4,1978) Black checker Anita Perry and white checker Linda Blaser conducted an audit of the Hilltop office in Cleveland Heights on April 4, 1978. This audit was part of the 1978 spring audits using the HUD procedures. Anita Perry was interviewed by Phyllis Williams, while Linda Blaser dealt with John Mayfield. Anita Perry relied on her audit report to refresh her recollection of her meetings and telephone conversations with Mrs. Phyllis Williams, who greeted her when she entered the Hilltop office. She told Mrs. Williams that she was interested in property in the eastern suburbs priced from $55,-000 to $60,000. She also stated that she lived in and liked Cleveland Heights. While she had lived in Cleveland Heights on Coleridge, she and her family for five years prior to 1978 had been living in a home on Washington Boulevard in University Heights. From a multiple listing book, Mrs. Williams suggested certain homes and “urged [her] to pick others.” Of the four or five homes that were suggested, Mrs. Williams showed her homes at 2895 Meadowbrook in Cleveland Heights and 3586 Meadowbrook in University Heights, several homes from the Cleveland Heights — University Heights line. Both homes met Mrs. Perry’s space requirements, each having more than four bedrooms. When Mrs. Perry’s deposition testimony was called to her attention, she agreed that Mrs. Williams called her back several times to try to show her additional homes. Mrs. Perry made a list of the homes suggested to her: 3536 Woodridge, 652 Quilliams, and 1496 Middleton, all in Cleveland Heights. However, this list was attached to her audit report, and Mrs. Perry agreed that these homes were suggested to her “during the actual audit ... rather than a phone call that occurred days later.” While Mrs. Perry had requested homes in the eastern suburbs, she singled out Cleveland Heights. Since she said that she liked Cleveland Heights, it was understandable that Mrs. Williams showed her homes in Cleveland Heights and one just over the boundary line of University Heights. Bearing in mind also that Mrs. Williams called her back several times after the audit to show her additional homes, offers which Mrs. Perry declined, it is concluded upon all the evidence that no inference of intentional racial steering may be drawn. On April 4, 1978, Linda Blaser met with John Mayfield at the Heights Hilltop office. She asked to see homes in the Heights-Hillerest area. Mr. Mayfield obtained a computer print-out and suggested six or more homes from it. At Mrs. Blaser’s insistence, Mr. Mayfield “picked” three homes from the six or more, but no others. Of those three, Mr. Mayfield was able to show the inside of a home at 1440 Gordon in Lyndhurst and a home at 4931 Westbourne, Lyndhurst. He drove her by to see the exterior of a home at 1607 Oakmount in South Euclid. Refreshing her recollection from her audit report, Mrs. Blaser indicated that Mr. Mayfield talked down both of the Lyndhurst homes and also told her that homes in Mayfield Heights were too expensive. Mrs. Blaser agreed, and her audit narrative corroborates, that “Mr. Mayfield encouraged her to look in Cleveland Heights but actually showed some houses in Lyndhurst.” Since he showed her no homes in Cleveland Heights, the encouragement to look- in Cleveland Heights was only talk. Mrs. Blaser further recorded in her audit report the following statement by Mr. May-field: You probably won’t want your kids to go to East Cleveland schools. They are mostly black but some white home buyers are buying there for the lower prices. While she did not remember the context in which this statement was uttered, it is nonetheless concluded that she accurately recorded the statement made by Mr. May-field. Since a portion of Cleveland Heights is in the Caledonia School District of East Cleveland’s school system, the remark, stressing the “mostly black” character of East Cleveland’s school system, the remark, stressing the “mostly black” character of East Cleveland’s schools, would tend to disparage living in the portion of the City which comprises the Caledonia school district. As a sales agent in the Heights-Hilltop office, Mr. Mayfield’s making of this remark and his showing of houses only outside of Cleveland Heights, even though she had asked for the Heights — Hillcrest area, which includes Cleveland Heights, persuades this court that Mr. Mayfield racially steered Mrs. Blaser away from Cleveland Heights in violation of section 3604(a). B.(6) Perry-Blaser (April 10, 1978) Anita Perry and Linda Blaser on April 10, 1978 audited Hilltop’s Hillcrest office in Lyndhurst, Ohio. Anita Perry dealt with William Weir, and Linda Blaser dealt with Violet (Vi) Costello. Anita Perry arrived at the Hillcrest office at 3:10 p.m. and departed at 4:50 p.na. She testified as to what occurred during this period only by refreshing her recollection from her audit report. Using the site visitation assignment sheet, Mrs. Perry testified that she had indicated to agent Weir that her price range was $55,000 to $60,-000. While Mr. Weir testified that he did not recall her telling him that, her statement is credited. Mrs. Perry also testified that she had told Mr. Weir that she was “looking for a home in the eastern suburbs.” No homes were shown to Mrs. Perry on Monday afternoon, April 10. Two homes in Cleveland Heights, at 2383 Lee Road and 3283 Meadowbrook Boulevard, were shown to Mrs. Perry on the morning of Wednesday, April 12. A critical question is how these two homes were chosen for viewing. Mrs. Perry’s testimony indicates that Mr. Weir suggested the homes shown to her, even though Mr. Weir at one point showed her a multiple listing book “and urged [her] to pick [homes] out.” Mr. Weir testified that in going over the multiple listing book, Mrs. Perry selected “a couple of properties.” But on cross-examination he stated that “we both picked them out.” Given the forceful personality Mr. Weir exhibited throughout his testimony and other testimony which challenged his credibility, it is determined that as Mrs. Perry testified, Mr. Weir “suggested both the two [houses] he showed me.” These houses were on Meadowbrook Boulevard and Lee Road in Cleveland Heights. On the basis of the relevant evidence in the record, it is inferred and concluded that by selecting two Cleveland Heights homes, each in a more integrated area, and by failing to suggest a home which met Mrs. Perry’s specifications in an eastern suburb other than Cleveland Heights, although homes were then available, as later found, Mr. Weir engaged in racial steering by making unavailable or denying a dwelling to Mrs. Perry because of race. The question arises whether there is other evidence to rebut the finding of locational steering by Mr. Weir. Because Mrs. Perry was not sure whether she told Mr. Weir she would let him know whether she liked either home she saw after she talked to her husband, she never called Mr. Weir back. Mr. Weir, on the other hand, testified that he told Mrs. Perry he would call for another appointment, called at least three times, and was always given “an excuse not to go out again.” He said he told her that he had a home available “in the Birchwald-Mackall area of South Euclid.” On cross-examination Mr. Weir was asked if he remembered that Mrs. Perry asked to see the eastern suburbs. He answered, “I tried to show her the eastern suburbs.” Asked if he considered showing her a home on either Clearview or Westbourne (both homes in Lyndhurst), he answered, “Not that I can recall.” As part of the April 10, 1978 audit of the Hillcrest office of Hilltop, Linda Blaser, the white counterpart of Anita Perry, was shown the Westbourne home in Lyndhurst, a four-bedroom house priced at $59,900. This was also within Mrs. Perry’s price range. Thus, there is evidence that the Westbourne four-bedroom property in Lyndhurst was available but not shown to Mrs. Perry on or about April 12, 1978, the time Mr. Weir stated that he was trying to show Mrs. Perry homes in the eastern suburbs. Further, there is no evidence on the record indicating that a home on Birchwald was available and within the specifications of Mrs. Perry. Neither Mr. Weir’s claimed offer to show her a home on Birchwald nor a general offer to show her homes in the eastern suburbs is credited. The inference of racial steering on the part of Mr. Weir is not rebutted. The court turns now to the other half of the audit of the Hilltop Hillcrest office, which was performed on April 10, 1978. Linda Blaser walked into the office at 11:00 o’clock and spoke with agent Vi Costello about looking at houses, according to her audit report. Agent Costello testified that Mrs. Blaser could not'have come in at 11:00 because she had “floor duty that afternoon.” Resolving the conflict, it is concluded that the audit began at 11:00 a.m. on the morning of April 10, as recorded contemporaneously on Mrs. Blaser’s audit report. Mrs. Blaser’s testimony of her various conversations with Mrs. Costello was not remembered independently of her written audit report but was given after her recollection was refreshed from it. Upon the agent’s request, she gave her telephone number and address on Rolliston Road in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Mrs. Blaser testified that she told the agent that she was seeking housing in the Heights-Hillcrest area. Mrs. Costello recalled that Mrs. Blaser said “she liked the Hillcrest area.” Mrs. Blaser said that the agent showed her a multiple listing book and “suggested some houses and urged [her] to pick others.” Mrs. Costello said six houses were picked out from the multiple-listing book, and then computer print-outs were obtained on them. One of the six was a house which Mrs. Costello picked out on Quilliams in Cleveland Heights. Mrs. Costello said the six homes were all Hilltop listings, which she had already seen on Hilltop’s weekly tour. When Mrs. Blaser told her that she only had time to see three homes, Mrs. Costello stated that “[I] picked the ones that I thought were the nicest and that she would like.” She selected a three-bedroom home on Clearview in Lyndhurst, a four-bedroom home on Westbourne in Lyndhurst, and the four-bedroom home on Quilliams Road in Cleveland Heights. The remaining three were on Avondale in South Euclid, on Gordon in Lyndhurst, and on Ranchland in Mayfield Heights. Mrs. Costello indicated the she did not group Cleveland Heights in the Hillcrest area. Bearing that in mind and that Mrs. Costello included a home on Quilliams Road in Cleveland Heights among the three homes to show Mrs. Blaser, it is concl