Gomez v. City of Watsonville
| Decision Date | 07 December 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. 87-1751,87-1751 |
| Citation | 863 F.2d 1407 |
| Parties | Dolores Cruz GOMEZ; Patricia Leal; and Waldo Rodriguez, Plaintiffs- Appellants, v. The CITY OF WATSONVILLE; Ann Soldo, Mayor of the City of Watsonville; Rex Clark; Vido Deretich; Joe Marsano; Roy Ingersoll; Betty Murphy; Gwen Carroll, councilmembers of the City of Watsonville, in their official capacities as members of the City Council of the City of Watsonville; Lorraine Washington, City Clerk, in her official capacity as City Clerk for the City of Watsonville, California, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Joaquin G. Avila, Fremont, Cal. (argued), with Barbara Y. Phillips, Rosen & Phillips, Morris J. Baller, Marron Reid & Sheehy, and Denise Hulett and Jose Garza, Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc., San Francisco, Cal., on the briefs, for plaintiffs-appellants.
Vincent R. Fontana, Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman & Dicker, New York City, for defendants-appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
Before GOODWIN and NELSON, Circuit Judges, and GILLIAM, * district judge.
Dolores Cruz Gomez, Patricia Leal, and Waldo Rodriguez ("Appellants") challenge the district court's ruling that the City of Watsonville's at-large mayoral and city council election system does not violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act as amended in 1982. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1973. The district court had jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1343(a)(3) & (4). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1291. We reverse and remand for implementation of a plan that comports with Section 2.
Appellants, Mexican-American citizens of Watsonville ("the City") eligible to vote, brought suit for declaratory and injunctive relief under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1973 ("Section 2"), 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983, and the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments. They have not appealed the district court's finding that no constitutional or Sec. 1983 violations occurred. The appellants instead claim that the City's at-large system of mayoral and city council elections violates Section 2 by lessening the opportunity of Hispanics to participate in the political process and to elect representatives of their choice. Appellants seek implementation of a single-member districting plan to redress the alleged violation, and attorneys' fees and costs pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Secs. 1973l(e) & 1988.
Appellants filed suit on May 21, 1985. On November 3, 1986, they filed a motion to enjoin the mayoral and city council election scheduled for May 1987. The district court denied this motion and held a trial from January 20-26, 1987. The district court found that racially polarized voting exists in Watsonville. The court did not find, however, that the Hispanic community was sufficiently politically cohesive or geographically insular to meet the Section 2 test. The district court issued a decision in favor of the City on January 30, 1987, and affirmed that decision after further briefing on February 20, 1987. The court awarded attorneys' fees and costs to the City. Appellants timely appealed.
The parties agree on many of the facts in this case. Appellants primarily challenge the district court's application of the legal standards governing Section 2 claims. The parties stipulated to the following facts, largely drawn from 1950-80 census data.
The City is governed by the city council, comprised of six council members and a mayor. Persons are elected to these positions on an at-large basis, with three council members elected each odd-numbered year. The three candidates with the highest number of votes are elected. Before the citizens voted for an at-large system in November 1952, the City used a district or ward system.
According to the 1980 census, 48.9% of the City's population is Hispanic, 45.2% Anglo, 5.4% Asian and Pacific Islander, and 0.5% Black. In 1950, Hispanics comprised 1,001 persons in a total population of 11,373. As of 1980, 11,509 of Watsonville's 23,543 residents are Hispanic. Of those persons eighteen years and older, 40% are Hispanic and 60% non-Hispanic. However, Hispanics comprise only 37.0% of Watsonville's citizens because 41.5% of the Hispanics in Watsonville are non-citizens.
No Hispanic had ever been elected as mayor or city council member in Watsonville under the at-large system prior to the trial. Eight Hispanic candidates ran unsuccessfully for city council positions from 1971 to 1985 and one Hispanic ran for mayor in 1979. 1 Twenty-five of the 51 According to census data, many more non-Hispanics than Hispanics are employed in managerial and professional jobs in Watsonville. A fairly equal number of Hispanics and non-Hispanics are employed as operators, fabricators and laborers. Many more Hispanics than non-Hispanics work in the farming, forestry and fishing industries in Watsonville. The number of Hispanics employed by the City itself has increased by 20% since 1973.
non-Hispanic candidates ran successfully for city council positions from 1971 to 1985. Hispanic persons have been appointed to City boards and commissions.
As of 1980, educational attainment levels differed among Hispanics and Anglos. Below are the number of persons 25 years and older completing school in the City.
ANGLO HISPANIC
Elementary 2,739 3,032
High School (13 yrs.) 1,564 569
(4 yrs.) 2,792 610
College (13 yrs.) 1,728 311
(4 of more yrs.) 1,084 171
Although the parties stipulated to the above facts, they dispute the significance of socioeconomic characteristics of the City's Hispanic community derived from the census data. Appellants maintain that the evidence reveals large discrepancies between the City's Hispanics and non-Hispanics in educational levels, income, and employment. Appellants stress that the Hispanic population has lower educational attainment levels; are employed in lower status professions, or more commonly are unemployed, and have lower family incomes; and rent instead of own their homes twice as often as other City residents. Appellants also emphasize that of the Watsonville Hispanics over age 5, 41% speak Spanish at home and approximately one-third do not speak English well or at all.
Appellees interpret the same statistics as showing less disparity between the two groups. They emphasize the increasing level of education among Hispanics during the 1970s and the increasing level of employment of Hispanics by the City itself in recent years. However, appellees fail to compare those figures to the education and employment levels of the City's non-Hispanics. Appellees also emphasize disparities within the City's Hispanic population. For example, they note that lower and higher income Hispanics sometimes reside in the same census tracts, and that the Hispanics who do own homes own those of comparable value to those owned by non-Hispanics.
The district court here found that racially polarized voting exists in Watsonville. It relied on appellants' expert, Dr. Bernard Grofman, who analyzed the census data and concluded that voting is racially polarized in Watsonville. Cf. Thornburg v. Gingles, 478 U.S. 30, 52-61, 106 S.Ct. 2752, 2767-72, 92 L.Ed.2d 25 (1986) (). The district court found the evidence of racially polarized voting here "essentially uncontradicted" and found Dr. Grofman's methodology "completely without criticism."
However, the court ruled against appellants. It found Watsonville's Hispanic population insufficiently geographically compact to meet the requirements of a Section 2 claim. The district court recognized that the Hispanics have the potential to control two single-member districts, but rejected appellants' vote dilution claim because the majority of Hispanics would still reside in Anglo-controlled districts in which their vote was ineffective.
The district court also found that appellants failed to demonstrate sufficient political cohesiveness among the Watsonville Hispanics. Although the court found that 95% of Hispanic voters vote for the same candidates, the court considered low voter registration and turnout among Hispanics, and concluded that all Hispanics eligible to vote might not all vote alike. Further, the court found that socioeconomic differences and differences in political opinion supported a conclusion that Hispanics had shown low enthusiasm for past Hispanic candidates and this, in turn, undermined political cohesiveness.
The district court appears to have misunderstood the proper legal inquiry after the 1982 amendments. Because this circuit
has not yet decided a case interpreting the 1982 amendments to Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, we will begin with an analysis of the legal standards that are to be applied to challenges to at-large electoral schemes under the newly amended Section 2.
In analyzing a Section 2 claim, we review the district court's factual findings under the clearly erroneous standard of Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a). Thornburg v. Gingles, 478 U.S. 30, 79, 106 S.Ct. 2752, 2781, 92 L.Ed.2d 25 (1986). However, "Rule 52(a) 'does not inhibit an appellate court's power to correct errors of law, including those that may infect a so-called mixed finding of law and fact, or a finding of fact that is predicated on a misunderstanding of the governing rule of law.' " Id. (quoting Bose Corp. v. Consumers Union of U.S., Inc., 466 U.S. 485, 501, 104 S.Ct. 1949, 1959, 80 L.Ed.2d 502 (1984)). Accordingly, the district court's findings will be set aside to the extent that they rest upon an erroneous view of the law....
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