Cite as: 537 U. S. 280 (2003)
Opinion of the Court
David Holley, an interracial couple, tried to buy a house in Twenty-Nine Palms, California. A real estate corporation, Triad, Inc., had listed the house for sale. Grove Crank, a Triad salesman, is alleged to have prevented the Holleys from obtaining the house—and for racially discriminatory reasons.
The Holleys brought a lawsuit in federal court against Crank and Triad. They claimed, among other things, that both were responsible for a fair housing law violation. The Holleys later filed a separate suit against David Meyer, the petitioner here. Meyer, they said, was Triad's president, Triad's sole shareholder, and Triad's licensed "officer/ broker," see Cal. Code Regs., tit. 10, § 2740 (1996) (formerly Cal. Admin. Code, tit. 10, § 2740) (requiring that a corporation, in order to engage in acts for which a real estate license is required, designate one of its officers to act as the licensed broker); Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code Ann. §§ 10158, 10159, 10211 (West 1987). They claimed that Meyer was vicariously liable in one or more of these capacities for Crank's unlawful actions.
The District Court consolidated the two lawsuits. It dismissed all claims other than the Fair Housing Act claim on statute of limitations grounds. It dismissed the claims against Meyer in his capacity as officer of Triad because (1) it considered those claims as assertions of vicarious liability, and (2) it believed that the Fair Housing Act did not impose personal vicarious liability upon a corporate officer. The District Court stated that "any liability against Meyer as an officer of Triad would only attach to Triad," the corporation. App. 31. The court added that the Holleys had "not urged theories that could justify reaching Meyer individually." Ibid. It later went on to dismiss for similar reasons claims of vicarious liability against Meyer in his capacity as the "designated officer/ broker" in respect to Triad's real estate license. Id., at 52-55.
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