Animal Legal Defense Fund v. Yeutter

• Decision Date: 01 April 1991
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 90-1872 (CRR).
• Citation: 760 F. Supp. 923
• Parties: ANIMAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Clayton YEUTTER, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

760 F. Supp. 923

ANIMAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Clayton YEUTTER, et al., Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 90-1872 (CRR).

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

April 1, 1991.

Valerie J. Stanley, Galvin, Stanley and Hazard, Washington, D.C., and Joyce Tischler, Animal Legal Defense Fund, San Rafael, Cal., for plaintiffs.

Stuart M. Gerson, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jay B. Stephens, U.S. Atty. for District of Columbia, Jeffrey T. Sprung, Asst. U.S. Atty., Thomas W. Millet, Marsha S. Edney, Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., and Colleen Carroll, Agency Counsel, Dept. of Agr., for defendants.

OPINION OF CHARLES R. RICHEY UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

CHARLES R. RICHEY, District Judge.

The plaintiffs, two animal welfare groups and two individuals, allege that the defendants, the United States Department of Agriculture ("USDA"), the Secretary of USDA ("Secretary"), and the Administrator of the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, have violated the mandate of the Federal Laboratory Animal Welfare Act ("FLAWA" or "Act"), 7 U.S.C. §§ 2131 et seq., by promulgating regulations which fail to include birds, rats, and mice as "animals" within the meaning of the Act. The defendants have filed a motion to dismiss the plaintiff's amended complaint for lack of standing and for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.¹

After carefully considering the defendants' motion to dismiss, the supporting and opposing memoranda, the underlying law, and the entire record in this case, the Court concludes that the plaintiffs have alleged sufficient injury to support their standing to bring this lawsuit. Moreover, the Court finds that the plaintiffs have stated a claim upon which relief may be granted. Accordingly, the defendants' motion to dismiss shall be denied.

I. Background

Congress enacted the Federal Laboratory Animal Welfare Act, 7 U.S.C. §§ 2131 et seq., to insure, inter alia, "that animals intended for use in research facilities ... are provided humane care and treatment." 7 U.S.C. § 2131(1). Therefore, the Secretary was charged with promulgating regulations prescribing standards for the proper treatment of animals. § 2143(a)(1).² To facilitate enforcement of these standards, the Secretary requires regulated owners or users of animals covered by the Act to submit annual reports concerning their compliance with the appropriate standards. 9 C.F.R. § 2.36. These reports are then summarized in the Secretary's annual report to Congress, as required by 7 U.S.C. § 2155.

"Animals" are defined in the Act to mean

any live or dead dog, cat, monkey (nonhuman primate mammal), guinea pig, hamster, rabbit, or such other warm-blooded animal, as the Secretary may determine is being used, or is intended for use, for research, testing, experimentation, or exhibition purposes, or as a pet; but such term excludes horses not used for research purposes and other farm animals

...

§ 2132(g). The regulations implementing this section further refine the definition of animal by explicitly excluding rats, mice, and birds.³ 9 C.F.R. § 1.1(n). The exclusion of rats, mice, and birds dates from the first regulations implementing the Act, promulgated in 1971. See 36 Fed.Reg. 24,919 (1971). After a 1985 amendment of the Act, individuals and groups concerned about the welfare of these fauna suggested that the exclusion of rats, mice and birds be dropped. The USDA refused to make this change, see 54 Fed.Reg. 10,823-24 (1989), and two animal welfare organizations filed a petition with the USDA for a rulemaking to amend the regulation. When the USDA denied the petition in June 1990, the plaintiffs filed this suit. The plaintiffs are the two animal welfare advocacy organizations, and an individual member of each organization.

II. Analysis

A. Introduction

A court may grant a motion to dismiss only when the moving party has shown "beyond doubt that the plaintiffs can prove no set of facts in support of their claim which would entitle them to relief." Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 101-02, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957). Moreover, "the complaint must be `liberally construed in favor of the plaintiffs,' who must be granted the benefit of all inferences that can be derived from the facts alleged." Schuler v. United States, 617 F.2d 605, 608 (D.C.Cir.1979) (quoting Jenkins v. McKeithen, 395 U.S. 411, 421, 89 S.Ct. 1843, 1848, 23 L.Ed.2d 404 (1969)).

B. Lack of Standing

Before the Court may reach the merits of the case, there is a threshold inquiry that must be satisfied — whether these plaintiffs have standing to challenge this particular agency action. Bender v. Williamsport Area School Dist., 475 U.S. 534, 541, 106 S.Ct. 1326, 1331, 89 L.Ed.2d 501 (1986). The Court's jurisdiction to review these regulations is based on section 10(a) of the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA"), which provides judicial review to any person "suffering legal wrong because of an agency action, or adversely affected or aggrieved by agency action within the meaning of a relevant statute."⁴ 5 U.S.C. § 702. Therefore, the party seeking review of USDA's failure to amend the regulations implementing the Act must show either that he has suffered legal wrong caused by failure to amend the regulations, or is adversely affected by it within the meaning of the Act. See Lujan v. National Wildlife Federation, ___ U.S. ___, 110 S.Ct. 3177, 3184, 111 L.Ed.2d 695 (1990).

Because the plaintiffs are not claiming to be the victims of a legal wrong, their standing is based on being aggrieved or adversely affected by the unamended regulations. To prevail against this standing challenge, the plaintiffs must meet a broad two-part test. First, they must plausibly allege injury in fact derived from the agency action,⁵ and second, they must assert that the injury is within the zone of interests protected by the Act. Capital Legal Found. v. Commodity Credit Corp., 711 F.2d 253, 259 (D.C.Cir.1983). The first part is constitutionally mandated; the second is based on prudential concerns. Action Alliance of Senior Citizens v. Heckler, 789 F.2d 931, 936-37 (D.C.Cir.1986), vacated on other grounds, ___ U.S. ___, 110 S.Ct. 1329, 108 L.Ed.2d 469 (1990). The asserted injury "need not be large or intense, an identifiable trifle suffices." United States v. Students Challenging Regulatory Agency Procedures, 412 U.S. 669, 689 n. 14, 93 S.Ct. 2405, 2417 n. 14, 37 L.Ed.2d 254 (1973) ("SCRAP").

In support of their standing to bring this suit, the plaintiffs identify several different types of injuries. These may be categorized as injuries to the plaintiff organizations as organizations, injuries to the individual members of the plaintiff organizations for which the plaintiff organizations are suing, injuries suffered by the individual plaintiffs for which the individuals are suing, and injuries suffered by the animals for which the plaintiff organizations are suing. Because the Court finds that the injuries to the plaintiff organizations survive the defendants' motion to dismiss, the Court need not address the remaining contentions on standing. See Watt v. Energy Action Educational Foundation, 454 U.S. 151, 160, 102 S.Ct. 205, 212, 70 L.Ed.2d 309 (1981).

The plaintiff organizations claim first that the regulation, by failing to include rats, mice and birds within the Act's protections and reporting requirements, injures the organizations by hindering their ability to disseminate to their members information about the treatment and conditions of these fauna. An organization with a primary function of disseminating data may be injured by an agency's failure to provide or collect that information. See Havens Realty Corp. v. Coleman, 455 U.S. 363, 379, 102 S.Ct. 1114, 1124, 71 L.Ed.2d 214 (1982); Action Alliance, 789 F.2d at 936-39; Scientists' Institute for Public Information, Inc. v. AEC, 481 F.2d 1079, 1087 n. 29 (D.C.Cir.1983). To sustain informational standing, a plaintiff must assert a plausible link between the injury to their organizational activities and the agency action. Competitive Enterprise Inst. v. NHTSA, 901 F.2d 107, 122-23 (D.C.Cir. 1990). Moreover, the information must be essential to the organization's activities such that its absence renders those activities infeasible. Id. at 122. Finally, the organization's programmatic goals must be within the zone of interests protected by the statute. Id. at 123.

The plaintiffs allege that the lack of data on the condition of mice, rats and birds, data which would be available if these fauna were considered "animals" under the Act, renders their program of reporting to their members infeasible. The defendants counter that the primary function of the plaintiff organizations, the advocacy of better conditions for all fauna, is not sufficiently hindered, nor hindered at all, by lack of government data on rats, mice and birds.

While it is true that some activities of the plaintiff organizations might not be prevented by the USDA regulations, the defendants mischaracterize the plaintiffs' burden under the motion to dismiss. For an agency action or inaction to constitute an injury for standing purposes, it is not necessary that all activities of an organization be made totally infeasible thereby, but only that an activity that is germane to the organization's purpose be significantly hindered. See Action Alliance, 789 F.2d at 937. The standing requirement of Article III is satisfied when there is sufficient injury to the plaintiffs to give rise to an actual case or controversy. See Hodel v. Irving, 481 U.S. 704, 711, 107 S.Ct. 2076, 2080, 95 L.Ed.2d 668 (1987). This injury need not be potentially fatal to the plaintiffs; it need only be significant enough that the ensuing controversy assuredly will be vigorously contested. SCRAP, 412 U.S. at 689 n. 14, 93 S.Ct. at 2417 n. 14; Action Alliance, 789 F.2d at 937. The plaintiff organizations have adequately alleged a direct, adverse impact on their informational activities...