Pomerantz v. Los Angeles County

• Decision Date: 19 April 1982
• Docket Number: No. 80-5203,80-5203
• Citation: 674 F.2d 1288
• Parties: Mitchell POMERANTZ, Maureen Soucy, Bert Hayner, On Behalf of Themselves and All Other Persons Similarly Situated, and National Federation of the Blind of California, a California Corporation, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES; Peter F. Schabarum, Kenneth H. Hahn, Edmund D. Edelman, James A. Hayes, and Baxter Ward, individually and as Members of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Los Angeles; Raymond Arce, Jury Commissioner of the County of Los Angeles; William A. Goodwin, Former Jury Commissioner for the County of Los Angeles; Judd Holzendorff, Assistant Jury Commissioner for Superior Court for the County of Los Angeles; Benjamin Vargas, Jury Qualification Supervisor for the County of Los Angeles, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 1288

674 F.2d 1288

Mitchell POMERANTZ, Maureen Soucy, Bert Hayner, On Behalf of Themselves and All Other Persons Similarly Situated, and National Federation of the Blind of California, a California Corporation, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES; Peter F. Schabarum, Kenneth H. Hahn Edmund D. Edelman, James A. Hayes, and Baxter Ward individually and as Members of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Los Angeles; Raymond Arce, Jury Commissioner of the County of Los Angeles; William A. Goodwin, Former Jury Commissioner for the County of Los Angeles; Judd Holzendorff, Assistant Jury Commissioner for Superior Court for the County of Los Angeles; Benjamin Vargas, Jury Qualification Supervisor for the County of Los Angeles Defendants-Appellees.

No. 80-5203.

United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted Oct. 5, 1981.

Decided April 19, 1982.

Stanley Fleishman, Beverly Hills, Cal., argued, for plaintiffs-appellants; A. Thomas Hunt, Los Angeles, Cal., on brief.

John H. Larson, County Counsel, Gordon W. Trask, Deputy County Counsel, Los Angeles, Cal., for defendants-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

Before GOODWIN, NELSON, and REINHARDT, Circuit Judges.

NELSON, Circuit Judge.

On August 16, 1977, appellants, three blind individuals and the National Federation of The Blind of California, filed suit in the District Court for the Central District of California, seeking declaratory relief, an injunction, damages, and attorney's fees. The undisputed facts show that the Los Angeles County Jury Commissioner, and other employees directly involved in the jury selection process for the Superior Court for the County of Los Angeles had, prior to January 1, 1978, excluded all blind persons from jury service solely because they were blind. Appellants allege, however, that this exclusion was in violation of the due process and equal protection clauses of the fourteenth amendment.

Prior to the commencement of this suit, on January 17, 1977, S. B. 152 was introduced in the California State Senate. The bill specifically made the blind eligible for jury service after January 1, 1978. The bill was passed by the State Senate on June 6, 1977. On August 8, 1977, the State Assembly Committee on Judiciary recommended the bill be passed. On September 6, 1977, about three weeks after this suit was filed, the Senate Bill was approved by the Governor. The following day, the bill was chaptered by the Secretary of State. Cal.Civ.Proc.Code §§ 198, 199 (Deering 1981). On September 15, 1977, the Jury Commissioner ceased disqualifying the blind from jury lists to be used subsequent to January 1, 1978.

Before the new law amending Sections 198 and 199 of the California Code of Civil Procedure was passed, those sections said that in order to be competent to serve, a trial juror had to be "in possession of his natural faculties and of ordinary intelligence and not decrepit." Cal.Civ.Proc.Code §§ 198, 199 (Deering 1972) (amended 1977). Although the state courts had never interpreted the statute to decide whether the blind were meant to be disqualified under it, those in charge of jury selection had uniformly interpreted the law to exclude the blind from jury service.

After the change in law, jury questionnaires sent in 1977, for service in 1978, were reviewed. Respondents who had indicated they were blind were no longer disqualified. The fact of blindness, therefore, has not barred anyone from serving on a jury since January 1, 1978. There is no question that all appellees have always acted in good faith in these matters and with no animus towards the blind. They have always acted under the reasonable belief that they are carrying out the law and policy of the state and the Superior Court.

In their second amended complaint, filed February 18, 1978, appellants claimed damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1976) and 29 U.S.C. § 794 (Supp. II 1978). They dropped their demand that the blind no longer be excluded systematically from jury service, that demand having been met by the new legislation. They also dropped their claim for declaratory relief, but still made numerous demands on appellees for which they sought an injunction. Specifically, they demanded that the court order that the named appellants be placed immediately on a jury list, that the jury questionnaires be changed to make it clear that the blind are no longer excluded, that appellees refrain from making jury service for the blind contingent on a waiver of claims, that appellees not discourage the blind from serving and inform the public of a blind person's right to serve, and that appellees make all juror reading material available in braille.

On December 13, 1979, the district court entered summary judgment on behalf of appellees on all issues and denied all relief to appellants. In a separate order dated February 5, 1980, the trial court denied appellants any award of attorney's fees. Appellees, however, have taken many of the actions demanded of them in appellants' second amended complaint. And although appellees have not arranged for immediate placement of appellants on a jury list, a blind person now has the same chance of serving as anyone else. This is demonstrated by the fact that one named appellant, Ms. Soucy, had already served on a jury as of January 28, 1980.

The trial court based its denial of equitable relief on two grounds: first, that the claims for injunctive and declaratory relief were moot except for the one demanding immediate placement on a jury list; and second that this last request "would jeopardize the rights of litigants to a randomly selected jury." In addition, on the issue of damages, the trial court found that the defendants, County of Los Angeles and Board of Supervisors, were not involved in the exclusion of blind jurors, and that all the other defendants acted in good faith and in the execution of a statute and are immune from damages under § 1983 and § 794.

We affirm the trial court's denial of damages, for reasons different, however, from those given below. We also affirm its holding on mootness. The district court's denial of an injunction for immediate placement on a jury list, however, is reversed and remanded for further consideration.

I. DAMAGES

The standard of review of a summary judgment is set forth in Gaines v. Haughton, 645 F.2d 761, 769 (9th Cir. 1981), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 102 S.Ct. 1006, 71 L.Ed.2d 297 (1982):

The test to be applied in reviewing the grant or denial of a summary judgment motion is that summary judgment is proper only when there is no genuine issue of any material fact or when viewing the evidence and the inferences which may be drawn therefrom in the light most favorable to the adverse party, the movant is clearly entitled to prevail as a matter of law.

Under that standard, we cannot disturb the trial court's finding that neither the County nor the Board of Supervisors had any participation in the jury selection process. There is no genuine issue of fact as to that finding, even viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to appellants. No damages, therefore, can be awarded against these two appellees. Any damage recovery against the other appellees, those who were involved in the jury selection process, is barred by their quasi-judicial immunity. Burkes v. Callion, 433 F.2d 318, 319 (9th Cir. 1970), cert. denied, 403 U.S. 908, 91 S.Ct. 2217, 29 L.Ed.2d 685 (1971). The Burkes court concluded: "This circuit has repeatedly held that judges and other officers of government whose duties are related to the judicial process are immune from liability for damages under § 1983 for conduct in the performance of their official duties." 433 F.2d at 319. The court then held that a court appointed psychiatrist was entitled to this quasi-judicial immunity.

There are other instances, in addition to Burkes, of officials less involved with the judicial process than jury administrators having been held entitled to this quasi-judicial immunity. For example, in Mills v. Small, 446 F.2d 249 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 404 U.S. 991, 92 S.Ct. 535, 30 L.Ed.2d 543 (1971), a Superior Court medical examiner was held entitled to the immunity. And while none of the cases ¹ on this subject deals with actions under § 794, they all deal with civil rights type actions, mostly under § 1983. We see no reason to distinguish actions under § 794 from other civil rights actions for immunity purposes. See New York State Association For Retarded Children v. Carey, 612 F.2d 644, 649 (2d Cir. 1979). We hold, therefore, that the remaining individual defendants are entitled to quasi-judicial immunity from damages, both as to the § 1983 and the § 794 causes of action. For this reason, we affirm the trial court's denial of damages.

II. MOOTNESS

We also affirm the lower court's holding that all requests for injunctive relief are moot except for the one asking that appellants be placed immediately on a jury list. According to Franks v. Bowman Transport Co., 424 U.S. 747, 96 S.Ct. 1251, 47 L.Ed.2d 444 (1976), "(t)he only constitutional mootness question is whether 'a live controversy (remains) at the time this court reviews the case.' " Id. at 755, 96 S.Ct. at 1260, 47 L.Ed.2d at 456 (quoting Sosna v. Iowa, 419 U.S. 393, 402, 95 S.Ct. 553, 559, 42 L.Ed.2d 532, 542 (1975)). This being the standard, the trial court's holding on mootness is, with the one exception mentioned, correct.

Our affirmance of the district court's holding that these injunctive claims are moot is buttressed by the district court's finding that "(t)he defendants have demonstrated complete willingness to apply the change in California law." In situations where defendants voluntarily comply with a plaintiff's request, a claim will generally be considered moot if there is no legitimate concern that the defendant will return to his old ways, and if interim relief or events have...