Wilmington Parking Authority
| Burton v. Wilmington Parking Authority | |
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| Argued 21 February, 1961 Decided 17 April, 1961 |
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| Full case name | William H. BURTON, Appellant, v. WILMINGTON PARKING AUTHORITY, et al. |
| Citations | 365 U.S. 715 (more)
81 S. Ct. 856; 6 L. Ed. 2d 45; 1961 U.S. LEXIS 1297
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| Prior history | Delaware Supreme Court |
| Holding | |
| In view of all the circumstances of this case, including the facts that the restaurant was physically and financially an integral part of a public building, built and maintained with public funds, devoted to a public parking service, and owned and operated by an agency of the State for public purposes, the State was a joint participant in the operation of the restaurant, and its refusal to serve appellant violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. | |
| Court membership | |
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| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Clark, joined by Warren, Black, Douglas, Brennan |
| Concurrence | Stewart |
| Dissent | Frankfurter |
| Dissent | Harlan, joined by Whittaker |
| Laws applied | |
| Fourteenth Amendment, the Delaware Code | |
Burton v. Wilmington Parking Authority, 365 U.S. 715 (1961), was a United States Supreme Court case that considered the application of the Equal Protection Clause on a private business that operates in close relationship to a government to the point that it becomes a "state actor".
The Wilmington Parking Authority (WPA) is a government agency established by the State of Delaware in 1951 to encourage parking access. Although a state agency, the WPA worked closely with the City of Wilmington who would issue the bonds for initial construction. The first project of the new agency was to build the Midtown Parking Center, a garage on the downtown block in Wilmington between 8th, Orange, 9th and Shipley streets. The city's economic analysis showed that the bonds could only be repaid if the parking income was augmented with rental income from a strip of storefronts built along 9th Street. The Eagle Coffee Shoppe, Inc., was one of the tenants and signed a 20-year lease in 1957.
Shortly after it opened, seven black local Chrysler workers were arrested for trespass when they staged a sit-in at the counter and refused to leave until they were served in an unsuccessful attempt to desegregate the restaurant. Louis L. Redding, a local civil rights attorney who helped litigate Brown v. Board of Education, became involved in the dispute. Rather than appeal those arrests, he had City Councilman William H. Burton park at the garage and then go to the Eagle Coffee Shoppe where he was refused service explicitly because he was African American.
Suit was then filed in 1958 on Mr. Burton's behalf against the parking authority and the coffeehouse claiming the discrimination was state sanctioned by virtue of the landlord and the close relationship between the business and state agency. The lawsuit sought to either force the Eagle Coffee Shoppe to integrate their dining room or to terminate their lease.
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