In Bakersville, California, attorney Timothy Liebaert was shocked and angered to learn of a policy by the developer of the Fairway Oaks community not to sell houses to attorneys because it considered them overly litigious, so he sued them.

A judge rejected Liebaert's original claim, ruling that California discrimination law does not protect occupational status, but he filed an appeal and vowed to advance an alternate theory: that the developers were obliged to announce their no-lawyer policy in their advertisements.

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