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Aloha Bed & Breakfast v. Diane Cervelli, et al.

Paid petition · Intermediate Court of Appeals of Hawaii, No. CAAP-13-0000806 · judgment February 23, 2018

Certiorari denied · March 18, 2019
Pre-decision estimate: 3% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Questions presented

Phyllis Young, a retiree, rents three bedrooms in her family home using the name Aloha Bed & Breakfast to make ends meet. She welcomes everyone as guests provided they abide by her “house rules,” including that no romantic partners share a bedroom unless they are a married man and woman. When a same-sex couple tried to reserve a bedroom in advance, Mrs. Young explained that accommodating them would violate her religious beliefs, cited Hawaii’s Mrs. Murphy exemption, and referred the couple to a nearby friend who was happy to host them. The Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals judicially rewrote the Mrs. Murphy exemption for the first time in Mrs. Young’s case, holding that it applied only to long-term rentals. The Court then declared Mrs. Young’s family home a place of public accommodation, and held her in violation of state public-accommodations law. This renders her liable for compensatory, treble, and punitive damages, statutory fines, and ruinous attorney fees and costs in conflict with this Court’s precedent and decisions by the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and D.C. Circuits. The questions presented are:

  1. Whether holding Mrs. Young liable without fair notice that her actions could be unlawful violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.

  2. Whether the Commission’s efforts to punish Mrs. Young for exercising her religious beliefs in her own home violate the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Lloyd James Hochberg Jr.
James Hochberg, AAL LLLC

For respondent
Peter C. Renn
Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc.

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage

Proceedings

  1. Mar 18 2019
    Motion for leave to file amicus brief filed by Foundation for Moral Law GRANTED.
  2. Mar 18 2019
    Motion for leave to file amicus brief filed by Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention GRANTED.
  3. Mar 18 2019
    Petition DENIED.
  4. Feb 20 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/15/2019.
  5. Feb 19 2019
    Reply of petitioner Aloha Bed & Breakfast, A Hawai`i Sole Proprietorship filed. (Distributed)
  6. Feb 01 2019
    Brief of respondent Willam D. Hoshijo, as Executive Director of the Hawai'i Civil Rights Commission in opposition filed.
  7. Feb 01 2019
    Brief of respondents Diane Cervelli and Taeko Bufford in opposition filed.
  8. Dec 13 2018
    The motions to extend the time to file responses are granted and the time to file is extended to and including February 1, 2019, for all respondents.
  9. Dec 10 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from January 2, 2019 to February 1, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
  10. Dec 10 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from January 2, 2019 to February 1, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
  11. Nov 29 2018
    Response Requested. (Due January 2, 2019)
  12. Nov 28 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/4/2019.
  13. Nov 13 2018
    Brief amici curiae of Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, et al. filed.
  14. Nov 13 2018
    Amicus brief of Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention not accepted for filing. (November 19, 2018)(Corrected Version Submitted).
  15. Nov 13 2018
    Motion for leave to file amici brief filed by Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.(11/16/2018)
  16. Nov 13 2018
    Waiver of right of respondents Diane Cervelli and Taeko Bufford to respond filed.
  17. Nov 13 2018
    Amicus brief of Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention not accepted for filing.(11/16/2018)(Corrected Version submitted)
  18. Nov 12 2018
    Motion for leave to file amicus brief filed by Foundation for Moral Law.
  19. Nov 09 2018
    Waiver of right of respondent Willam D. Hoshijo, as Executive Director of the Hawai'i Civil Rights Commission to respond filed.
  20. Oct 11 2018
    Blanket Consent filed by Petitioner, Aloha Bed & Breakfast, A Hawai`i Sole Proprietorship.
  21. Oct 09 2018
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due November 13, 2018)