Deerfield Medical Center v. City of Deerfield Beach

• Decision Date: 13 November 1981
• Docket Number: No. 81-5215,81-5215
• Citation: 661 F.2d 328
• Parties: DEERFIELD MEDICAL CENTER, Medallion Executive Consultants, Inc., et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CITY OF DEERFIELD BEACH, City Commission of Deerfield Beach, et al., Defendants-Appellees. . Unit B *
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 328

661 F.2d 328

DEERFIELD MEDICAL CENTER, Medallion Executive Consultants, Inc., et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CITY OF DEERFIELD BEACH, City Commission of Deerfield Beach,

et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 81-5215.

United States Court of Appeals,

Fifth Circuit.

Unit B ^*

Nov. 13, 1981.

Lucas & Miller, Roy Lucas, Washington, D. C., for plaintiffs-appellants.

Andrew Mauradis, City Atty., City of Deerfield Beach, Deerfield Beach, Fla., Barry N. Natter, George A. Patterson, Deerfield Beach, Fla., for defendants-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Before MORGAN, KRAVITCH and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges.

LEWIS R. MORGAN, Circuit Judge.

The instant action arises out of an attempt by plaintiffs to establish a medical facility providing abortion services in the City of Deerfield Beach, Florida. The City Commission of Deerfield Beach denied an application by plaintiffs for an occupational license to open an abortion facility in an area zoned for business operations. Plaintiffs filed suit in the Southern District of Florida challenging the Commission's actions. The primary issue on appeal is whether the district judge abused his discretion in denying plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction. We hold that the denial of plaintiffs' motion under the facts presented constituted such an abuse of discretion.

I.

Plaintiffs-appellants are two individuals and a Florida corporation doing business as Deerfield Medical Center (hereinafter "DMC"). In August 1980, the two individual plaintiffs purchased a one-story professional building located at 540 Federal Highway, Deerfield Beach, Florida. Plaintiffs renovated and equipped the building to provide medical care, including legal abortion services. Also, plaintiffs became associated with a Florida licensed obstetrician-gynecologist, who was to provide the medical treatment at the clinic. ¹

Plaintiffs' building is located in an area zoned "Highway Business District" bordering U. S. Highway 1. Under the City's zoning scheme this district was established to "provide suitable locations for those commercial activities which function relatively independently of intensive pedestrian traffic and proximity of other firms. The activities typically require direct auto traffic access, and visibility from the roadway." City Code, Art. VII-A Section 8A.01. This statement of purpose is supplemented by other provisions outlining two categories of allowable uses within the Highway Business District: "Uses Permitted" and "Conditional Permitted Uses" (hereinafter "conditional uses"). In order to qualify as a permitted use, the business sought to be conducted must be one of twenty-two uses listed in the ordinance. ² Conditional uses are businesses of a "similar nature to those enumerated." ³ City Code, Art. VII-A Section 8A.03.

The Highway Business District already accommodates exceptionally divergent uses including a hotel, a drug store, two liquor stores (one of which is located diagonally across the street from St. Ambrose Catholic Church), a chiropractor's office and the offices of six physicians (two general practitioners, a podiatrist, a vascular gynecologist and two surgeons). The District runs along both sides of Highway 1 for virtually the full length of Deerfield Beach. Immediately behind the Highway Business District are areas zoned for single and multi-family residences.

In December, DMC filed an "Application for Occupational License" with the city to operate a "medical/surgical" facility in the Highway Business District. City zoning officials initially concluded that the proposed clinic did not constitute a permitted use, ⁴ and a hearing was scheduled before the Planning and Zoning Board to determine if DMC would qualify for a conditional use permit under City Code Section 8A.03. The hearing was held on January 8, 1981. By a vote of four to three the Board recommended that DMC be granted a conditional use permit. ⁵ This recommendation was then referred to the City Commission for final approval.

DMC's application was reviewed by the City Commission at a public hearing held on January 20, 1981. The Commission heard testimony by numerous residents of Deerfield Beach, including several clergy, the vast majority of whom expressed opposition to DMC's application because the clinic intended to provide abortion services. After the testimony was completed, a motion was introduced to deny DMC's application, and the motion was passed by the unanimous vote of the Commission members.

DMC and the other plaintiffs filed suit in district court on February 11, 1981, against the City of Deerfield Beach, the City Commission and the individual members of the Commission. ⁶ Plaintiffs challenged the denial of DMC's application for an occupational license claiming both monetary and injunctive relief on the basis that the City's actions violated 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. On February 26, 1981, the district court held a hearing on plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction pending trial on the merits. Plaintiffs introduced testimony of several city employees as well as various exhibits and documents. At the close of the hearing the district judge, in a brief oral statement from the bench, denied plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunctive relief. The court found that plaintiffs had not carried their burden of proof in showing irreparable injury or the likelihood of success on the merits. The court further noted that the city had a public interest in "regulating land use within its boundaries" and that the city commissioners had "a concern" in heeding the wishes of their constituents. Plaintiffs appeal this ruling. ⁷

II.

The standard to be applied on the appeal of a denial of a preliminary injunction is abuse of discretion. Vision Center v. Opticks, Inc., 596 F.2d 111, 114 (5th Cir. 1979). The decision of the district court should be reviewed considering the four factors required for the granting of a preliminary injunction: (1) a substantial likelihood that plaintiff will prevail on the merits, (2) a substantial threat that plaintiff will suffer irreparable injury if the injunction is not granted, (3) a threatened injury to plaintiff that outweighs the potential harm the injunction causes the defendant, and (4) a finding that granting the preliminary injunction will not disserve the public interest. Canal Authority v. Callaway, 489 F.2d 567, 572 (5th Cir. 1974). In order to be entitled to a preliminary injunction plaintiffs must meet the burden of persuasion on all four of these factors. Piedmont Heights Civic Club, Inc. v. Moreland, 637 F.2d 430, 435 (5th Cir. 1981).

A. Jus Tertii Standing

The district court in ruling on plaintiffs' motion found that plaintiffs had alleged sufficient injury in fact to establish standing to assert their own rights in challenging the defendants' actions. The court expressed doubt, however, that DMC had standing to assert the privacy rights of potential patients seeking abortions. The court was able to avoid resolution of the issue because it concluded that even considering the constitutional claims of pregnant women, plaintiffs had failed to demonstrate entitlement to injunctive relief. Because we are compelled to reverse the district court's denial of a preliminary injunction if the privacy rights of third parties in fact can be asserted by plaintiffs, ⁸ we must as a preliminary matter resolve whether a medical clinic which intends to provide abortion services may assert the constitutional claims of potential women patients in challenging a municipality's zoning actions. ⁹

The aboriginal precept of jus tertii standing is that "one may not claim standing ... to vindicate the constitutional rights of some third party." Barrows v. Jackson, 346 U.S. 249, 255, 73 S.Ct. 1031, 1034, 97 L.Ed. 1586 (1952). This limitation is not constitutionally mandated but a rule of self-restraint justified by a prudential concern that courts should not adjudicate constitutional rights unnecessarily and a belief that rights are most effectively asserted by those who can personally claim them. Singleton v. Wulff, 428 U.S. 106, 114, 96 S.Ct. 2868, 2874, 49 L.Ed.2d 826 (1976). In cases where these justifications are inapplicable, the general rule should be excepted and assertion of third party rights permitted. Id.

The concern that rights are most effectively asserted by those owning them is sufficiently eased to allow surrogate standing where there are circumstantial assurances of a litigant's effective advocacy of third party rights. Barrows v. Jackson, 346 U.S. at 258, 73 S.Ct. at 1036. Such assurances are provided where the relationship between the state enforced measure, the injury to the litigant and the purpose or effect of the measure naturally compels the litigant to fully and aggressively assert the constitutional claims of the third persons. Id. See Tribe, American Constitutional Law § 3-26 (1978). Jus tertii standing has been deemed sufficiently "necessary" where the result of litigation as a practical matter might impair the ability of third parties to exercise their constitutional rights, Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479, 85 S.Ct. 1678, 14 L.Ed.2d 510 (1965), or where "it would be difficult if not impossible for persons whose rights are asserted to present their grievance before any court." Barrows v. Jackson, 346 U.S. at 257, 73 S.Ct. at 1035.

The application of these principles to the case at bar is controlled by Carey v. Population Services International, 431 U.S. 678, 97 S.Ct. 2010, 52 L.Ed.2d 675 (1977), and Craig v. Boren, 429 U.S. 190, 97 S.Ct. 451, 50 L.Ed.2d 397 (1976). Craig held that a vendor of 3.2% beer had standing to assert the equal protection claims of males between the ages of 18 to 21 in challenging a statute that allowed the sale of 3.2% beer to 18 year old women but not to men under 21 years of...