Deborah L. Bills, and Nancy D. Fahnley v. Joseph H. Hodges, Sr.

WIDENER, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiffs below, Deborah L. Bills and Nancy D. Fahnley, had a month-to-month lease on an apartment owned by the defendant, Joseph H. Hodges, Sr. On February 5,1978, the defendant refused to accept the plaintiffs’ rent and instead served a notice of eviction. Plaintiffs filed suit under the Civil Rights Act of 1866, 42 U.S.C. § 1982, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968, 42 U.S.C. § 3604, alleging that the defendant’s actions were racially motivated. The complaint prayed for a temporary restraining order, a permanent injunction, actual damages, punitive damages, attorneys’…