{"id":2910,"date":"2022-03-04T23:07:02","date_gmt":"2022-03-04T23:07:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/preprod.realtrends.com\/blog\/2022\/03\/04\/judge-strikes-down-oregon-love-letter-ban\/"},"modified":"2025-03-13T02:40:46","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T02:40:46","slug":"judge-strikes-down-oregon-love-letter-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/preprod.realtrends.com\/blog\/2022\/03\/04\/judge-strikes-down-oregon-love-letter-ban\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge strikes down Oregon love letter ban"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The state of Oregon grabbed national attention last year for passing a law to ban \u201clove letters\u201d sent from potential homebuyer to homeseller, and often intermediated through real estate agents. These missives, lawmakers contended, make emotional appeals to homesellers, and are a minefield for Fair Housing Act violations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But on Thursday, Marco Hernandez, a federal judge based in Oregon, <a href=\"https:\/\/pacificlegal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Total-Real-Estate-Group-OPINION-ORDER.pdf\">ruled that<\/a> the new law violates the free speech rights of real estate agents. In a highly nuanced, 29-page written order, the judge voided a law that went into effect Jan. 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ultimately, the judge found that Oregon\u2019s ban \u201cof all non-customary documents\u201d sent from prospective buyer to seller in a real estate sale is a \u201cbroad sweep\u201d that will have the effect of banning \u201cother innocuous information prospective buyers provide in love letters.\u201d This ban, the judge added, specially restricts the speech of agents, who, in practice, write or at least edit the letters in question.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The decision is a victory for <strong>Total Real Estate Group<\/strong>, a self-described \u201cprogressive mid-size boutique real estate firm\u201d with locations in Portland and Bend, Oregon, and <strong>Pacific Legal Foundation<\/strong>, a libertarian organization whose lawyers brought the case.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Daniel Ortner called the order a major free speech victory. \u201cThe state cannot ban important speech because someone might misuse it,\u201d Ortner said in a statement. \u201cOregon\u2019s overly broad speech restriction is clearly not justified.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, it\u2019s back to the drawing board for Oregon legislators and the Oregon Real Estate Agency, the state body in charge of enforcing the law and the named defendant in the case.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The agency declined to opine on the ruling, but a spokesperson did provide a statement, noting, \u201cThe Oregon Real Estate Agency will not enforce HB 2550 unless a further court order allows the law to go into effect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Indeed, the judge\u2019s opinion is a preliminary injunction, which means a final judgment has not been made in the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the ruling, much of Hernandez\u2019s order parrots arguments from the state legislature. For example, the judge begins his opinion discussing Oregon\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/business\/archive\/2016\/07\/racist-history-portland\/492035\/\">notoriously racist past<\/a>, noting the state\u2019s \u201clong and abhorrent history of racial discrimination in property ownership and housing,\u201d particularly against Chinese immigrants and Black people.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The judge then directly ties that history into the letters that homebuyers send to get the attention of sellers. An expert witness for the state, the judge noted, found that 93% of all letters disclosed the potential buyer\u2019s, \u201crace, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, marital status, familial status, or disability.\u201d Factoring in any of those identifications in a real estate sale defies the Fair Housing Act.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the state may not present direct evidence that letters sent by homebuyers produce discrimination, \u201csignificant cicrumtantial evidence supports defendant\u2019s stated interest,\u201d the judge said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, why rule for Total Real Estate Group?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hernandez rules that the legislation, House Bill 2550, is too broad and is not \u201ctailored\u201d to specifically solve the problem of letters that perpetuate discrimination.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSome examples from the love letters in evidence are as follows,\u201d the judge wrote, \u201cTo express a desire to live permanently in the area, to explain unusual provisions of the offer, to discuss a love of gardening and how the home is well-suited for the growing of plants, to admire the architectural style of the home, and to explain why a certain repair is important to the prospective buyer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A law that may eliminate these communications goes too far, the judge ruled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like Hernandez, real estate agents have expressed a mix of views on love letters, and the potential prohibition. Beyond the question of discrimination, <a href=\"https:\/\/preprod.housingwire.com\/articles\/inside-the-effort-to-outlaw-real-estate-love-letters\/\">many complain<\/a> love letters are a hassle to both give and recieve. What most agents <a href=\"https:\/\/preprod.housingwire.com\/articles\/the-steamy-debate-over-real-estate-love-letters\/\">do agree on<\/a> is that these correspondence are often part of a real estate sale, especially in a high-demand market.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMany agents,\u201d Teri Pacitto, an agent at <strong>Sotheby\u2019s Realty<\/strong> in Westlake Village, California, told HousingWire in June, \u201csee the need to write these letters that are based on personal reasons and are emotionally driven in order to get the seller to consider their offer over the others.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A federal judge based in Oregon ruled that the new law violates the free speech rights of real estate agents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16592,"featured_media":4822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3255],"tags":[],"coauthors":[736],"class_list":["post-2910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v26.8) - 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