Jagnandan v. Giles, EC 73-9-K.

Decision Date15 August 1974
Docket NumberNo. EC 73-9-K.,EC 73-9-K.
Citation379 F. Supp. 1178
PartiesEdward R. JAGNANDAN et al., Plaintiffs, v. William L. GILES et al., Defendants.
CourtU.S. District Court — Northern District of Mississippi

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Mark H. Shenfield, West Point, Miss., for plaintiffs.

Ed Davis Noble, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, Miss., for defendants.

Before COLEMAN, Circuit Judge, and KEADY and SMITH, District Judges.

KEADY, District Judge.

This class action was instituted by three resident aliens declared ineligible for resident status for tuition purposes at Mississippi State University. Plaintiffs and their purported class challenge the constitutionality of § 37-103-23, Miss.Code Ann. (1972)1 which classifies alien students as nonresidents for the purpose of charging tuition and fees incident to attending a state-supported institution of higher learning. Defendants named in the complaint are William L. Giles, President of Mississippi State University, and William R. Nettles, Jr., Assistant to the Vice-President for Business Affairs at the University. The court, on its own motion, ordered that the Board of Trustees of the State Institutions of Higher Learning, the governing authority of Mississippi's senior colleges and universities, be joined as a party defendant needed for just adjudication. Rule 19(a), F.R.Civ.P.

Plaintiffs seek injunctive and declaratory relief and damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for deprivation of rights, privileges and immunities secured by the Constitution and by 8 U.S.C. § 1101 et seq. Additionally, plaintiffs seek reasonable attorney fees. Jurisdiction is asserted under 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3) and (4).

Plaintiffs having sought to restrain the enforcement and application of a state statute upon the ground of federal unconstitutionality, a three-judge court, requisite under 28 U.S.C. §§ 2281 and 2284, was duly convened to hear and determine the action.

By agreement of the parties, the case is submitted upon a record which consists of stipulation of certain facts, affidavits and depositions. Defendants have raised certain defenses, including a Rule 12(b) motion to dismiss. The parties have, however, been afforded full opportunity to submit extensive memoranda on all questions raised by the pleadings and proof. Although the issues raised for decision are primarily of a legal nature, we first set forth the relevant facts which are largely undisputed.

The named plaintiffs are Edward R. Jagnandan and Leonard Susil Jagnandan, minors asserting their claims by their father, W. L. Jagnandan, who also prosecutes his individual claim. These persons are aliens and citizens of the Republic of Guyana (formerly British Guiana in South America). Plaintiffs lawfully entered the United States on or about July 31, 1969, and, although aliens, they are classified as permanent residents by the United States Immigration Service. Plaintiffs' unimpeached deposition testimony establishes that W. L. Jagnandan and his family in September 1969 voluntarily moved to Clay County, Mississippi, where they have since lived and maintained a household; that W. L. Jagnandan has been gainfully employed as Minister of Trinity Presbyterian Church at West Point, paying Mississippi State income taxes and also owning an automobile registered in Clay County. Edward and Leonard Jagnandan, both unmarried minors, resided in the family home. All three plaintiffs hold Mississippi drivers' licenses and regularly commuted 20 miles from their home to the university campus during school terms. Each plaintiff testified without reservation or qualification that he has no present intention of leaving the state, and his purpose is to reside indefinitely in Mississippi.

Edward R. Jagnandan and Leonard Susil Jagnandan enrolled as full-time students at Mississippi State University for the 1970 fall term. Upon the filing of this action on January 8, 1973, Edward was a University student in good standing; Leonard, although academically suspended in 1972, was eligible for probationary readmission in June, 1973.2 Rev. Jagnandan entered the University in the 1972 spring semester as a candidate for a master's degree. He was thus in good standing as a "special student", having enrolled for less units than required of a full-time student.3 At all pertinent times, general fees and tuition charges were separately established for resident and nonresident students, a higher rate ($300 more per semester) being required of nonresidents.

In September 1970, contemporaneous with the commencement of Edward's and Leonard's matriculations at the University, Rev. Jagnandan sought an appointment with University officials to establish his family's eligibility as state residents for tuition purposes. Pursuant to instructions, Rev. Jagnandan applied to Lynn D. Furgerson, the University's Director of Admissions and Registrar, setting up pertinent facts. Furgerson's adverse determination was reviewed and upheld by the Residency Appeals Committee, composed of faculty and staff members. This action was later approved by President Giles. Upon being notified that they were ineligible for resident tuition rates, plaintiffs sought no further administrative relief, and instituted this federal action.

The named plaintiffs contend that at all times during their attendance as university students, they were eligible to be deemed residents of Mississippi for tuition purposes but for their alien status. Miss.Code Ann. § 37-103-1 (1972) provides:

"The board of trustees of each junior college in this state, the board of trustees of state institutions of higher learning, and the administrative authorities of each institution governed by said boards, in ascertaining and determining the legal residence of and tuition to be charged any student applying for admission to such institution shall be governed by the definitions and conditions set forth in Sections 37-103-1 to XX-XXX-XX."

The relevant definition appears in § 37-103-23, which provides:

"All aliens are classified as nonresidents."

Plaintiffs thus maintain that the foregoing statutory requirement, on its face, violates rights, privileges and immunities secured to them by the Constitution as well as the laws of the United States. More specifically, plaintiffs urge that the state's statutory definition impinges on the constitutional right to equal protection and due process of law granted by the Fourteenth Amendment, as well as the rights to travel interstate and of free association guaranteed by Article IV, § 2 of the Constitution,4 and the First, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. Plaintiffs also assert that the restriction placed by the challenged statute on aliens lawfully residing in Mississippi conflicts with the comprehensive and preemptive congressional scheme regulating the entry and residence of aliens in the United States imposed by 8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.,5 and required to be maintained inviolate by the Supremacy Clause in Article VI of the Constitution.6

The precise question for our decision is whether Mississippi, by § 37-103-23, can validly classify as nonresidents persons who are lawfully admitted aliens residing in Mississippi, and thereby exact higher tuition rates at the State's colleges or universities than are charged to citizens residing in the State. Several subsidiary matters, however, first must be considered.

Defendants, at the outset, challenge our jurisdiction under 28 U.S. C. § 1343, upon the premise that § 1343 pertains only to actions brought by citizens of the United States, and not aliens. This contention is wholly without merit, since it is a long-settled proposition that aliens lawfully in the United States are entitled to the protection of the Fourteenth Amendment. Graham v. Richardson, 403 U.S. 365, 91 S.Ct. 1848, 29 L.Ed.2d 534 (1971); Truax v. Raich, 239 U.S. 33, 36 S.Ct. 7, 60 L.Ed. 131 (1915). Deprivation of rights secured under the Fourteenth Amendment, of course, gives rise to a cause of action in law, equity or other proceeding for redress by any citizen of the United States or other person within its jurisdiction. 42 U.S.C. § 1983. 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3), the jurisdictional counterpart of § 1983, confers original jurisdiction on a federal district court to determine civil actions of the aforementioned type. That plaintiffs are resident aliens and not citizens of the United States does not vitiate jurisdiction under § 1343. Dougall v. Sugarman, 339 F.Supp. 906 (3-judge court S.D.N.Y.1971), aff'd, 413 U.S. 634, 93 S.Ct. 2842, 37 L.Ed.2d 853 (1973); Richardson v. Graham, 313 F.Supp. 34 (3-judge court 1970), aff'd, 403 U.S. 365, 91 S.Ct. 1848, 29 L.Ed.2d 534 (1971). Moreover, jurisdiction is properly conferred on this court by 28 U.S.C. §§ 2201 and 2202 (Declaratory Judgments Act), and §§ 2281 and 2284 (Three-Judge Courts).

Defendants also urge, as a jurisdictional challenge, that this suit is barred by the Eleventh Amendment which forbids any suit in federal court, in law or equity, against an unconsenting state by a citizen of any foreign state.7 Unquestionably, the explicit limitations of the Eleventh Amendment on the jurisdiction of federal courts has been consistently reaffirmed and followed by the courts. Employees v. Missouri Public Health Dept., 411 U.S. 279, 93 S.Ct. 1614, 36 L.Ed.2d 251 (1973); Hans v. Louisiana, 134 U.S. 1, 10 S.Ct. 504, 33 L.Ed. 842 (1890); Aerojet General Corp. v. Askew, 453 F.2d 819 (5 Cir. 1972). The Eleventh Amendment provides no immunity for defendants here, however, since this suit is clearly brought not against the State of Mississippi, but against two individuals (Giles and Nettles) and the members of a state board who allegedly are impermissibly acting under the mandate of a state statute in violation of plaintiffs' federal constitutional rights. Such a suit is permissible under the doctrine long ago established in Ex parte Young, 209 U.S. 123, 28 S.Ct. 441, 52 L.Ed. 714 (1908), and ever since consistently adhered to by the Supreme Court. Having unassailable...

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8 cases
  • Nyquist v. Mauclet
    • United States
    • U.S. Supreme Court
    • June 13, 1977
    ...the distribution of educational assistance is impermissible. See, e. g., Chapman v. Gerard, 456 F.2d 577 (CA3 1972); Jagnandan v. Giles, 379 F.Supp. 1178 (ND Miss.1974), appealed on damages and aff'd, 538 F.2d 1166 (CA5 1976), cert. pending, No. 76-832. 7 Appellants also argue that the Dist......
  • Jagnandan v. Giles
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit
    • September 20, 1976
    ...as interpreted by the Supreme Court in Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U.S. 651, 94 S.Ct. 1347, 39 L.Ed.2d 662 (1974). Jagnandan v. Giles, 379 F.Supp. 1178 (N.D.Miss.1974). Plaintiffs appeal the denial of reimbursement for the excess tuition and fees paid pursuant to the unconstitutional statute. Pl......
  • Humphries v. Various Federal USINS Employees
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit
    • January 21, 1999
    ...the class description is sufficiently definite and the class has some connection with the claim being litigated. Jagnandan v. Giles, 379 F.Supp. 1178 (N.D.Miss.1974), aff'd. in part, 538 F.2d 1166 (5th Cir.1976), cert. denied, 432 U.S. 910, 97 S.Ct. 2959, 53 L.Ed.2d 1083 (1977). A petition ......
  • Wade v. Mississippi Co-op. Extension Service
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Northern District of Mississippi
    • December 14, 1976
    ...has previously held that the Board and MSU are shielded by the Eleventh Amendment from a suit seeking monetary relief, Jagnandan v. Giles, 379 F.Supp. 1178 (N.D.Miss.1974) (three-judge court). There we noted that "refunds of tuition charges, if ordered, would not be paid by the defendants f......
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