Semler v. General Electric Capital Corp.

Opinion

MALLANO, P. J.

This appeal raises the question of whether a commercial lending institution, which is also an equity investor in a borrower’s venture, violated the Unruh Civil Rights Act (sometimes the Act) (Civ. Code, § 51) by declining to make a loan to a limited liability company because its managing member included a felon who had conspired to falsify customs documents and sell munitions to Syria.

We conclude that being a felon is not a personal characteristic similar to those enumerated in the Act; the lending institution had legitimate business reasons justifying its decision—the…