Baines v. Masiello

• Decision Date: 06 October 2003
• Docket Number: No. 02-CV-0607C(HBS).,02-CV-0607C(HBS).
• Citation: 288 F.Supp.2d 376
• Parties: Rev. Robert E. BAINES, David Riveria, Ramona Taylor, Felicita Roche, and Beverly A. Gray, each as Individuals, Electors and Residents of the City of Buffalo, Plaintiffs, v. Anthony M. MASIELLO, as Mayor of the City of Buffalo, in his Official Capacity, the City of Buffalo, a State Chartered Municipal Corporation, the Common Council of the City of Buffalo, a State Chartered Local Legislative Body, and Charles L. Michaux, III, as Clerk of the City of Buffalo, in his Official Capacity, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of New York

Page 376

288 F.Supp.2d 376

Rev. Robert E. BAINES, David Riveria, Ramona Taylor, Felicita Roche, and Beverly A. Gray, each as Individuals, Electors and Residents of the City of Buffalo, Plaintiffs, v. Anthony M. MASIELLO, as Mayor of the City of Buffalo, in his Official Capacity, the City of Buffalo, a State Chartered Municipal Corporation, the Common Council of the City of Buffalo, a State Chartered Local Legislative Body, and Charles L. Michaux, III, as Clerk of the City of Buffalo, in his Official Capacity, Defendants.

No. 02-CV-0607C(HBS).

United States District Court, W.D. New York.

October 6, 2003.

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Venita A. Parker, Esq., Amherst, NY (Kenneth Nixon, of Counsel), Attorney for Plaintiffs.

City of Buffalo Department of Law (David R. Hayes, Esq., Assistant Corporation Counsel, of Counsel), Buffalo, NY, Attorney for Defendants.

CURTIN, District Judge.

Defendants move to dismiss the complaint pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), or alternatively for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56, of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (Item 76). Oral argument was heard by the court on September 5, 2003. For the following reasons, defendants' motion is granted.

BACKGROUND

This action challenges the City of Buffalo's enactment in 2002 of Local Law No. 8, reducing the size of the City's Common Council from thirteen members to nine by eliminating three at-large seats and the position of Council President, and Local Law No. 13, revising the City's nine council districts to reflect the population numbers reported in the year 2000 federal decennial census. Plaintiffs Robert E. Baines, David Riveria, Ramona Taylor, and Felicita Roche are duly registered voters in the City of Buffalo, and plaintiff Beverly A. Gray is one of the three at-large council members whose seat was eliminated as a result of the challenged legislation. Defendants are the City of Buffalo, the Common Council, Mayor Anthony Masiello, and City Clerk Charles Michaux.

A brief discussion of the historical context of the current redistricting and downsizing dispute is in order. In 1980, the City of Buffalo had approximately 357,000 residents. The Common Council (as established by the 1927 City Charter) was comprised of nine-district members, five at-large members, and a separately elected Council President, for a total of fifteen members. In 1981, the City's Charter Revision Commission recommended reducing the number of district members from nine to eight, and at-large members from five to four, resulting in reduction of the total number of council members from fifteen to thirteen. This recommendation appeared as a proposition on the ballot in the November 1981 election, and was adopted by the voters (see Item 78, ¶¶ 4-5 & Ex. A).

In 1982, the Common Council considered numerous resolutions and proposed local laws to implement the downsizing approved by the voters, in accordance with New York Municipal Home Rule Law § 10.¹ On July 27, 1982, by a vote of nine to six, the Council enacted a local law restoring the number of district members to nine, reducing the number of at-large seats from five to three, and retaining the Council President position. This local law was adopted by the voters in the November 1982 election, without legal challenge (id. at ¶¶ 6-7 & Ex. A).

In 1999, the composition of the Common Council was revisited by the City Charter Revision Commission. The Commission recommended that the current thirteen-member configuration be continued without change (see id. at ¶ 8 & Ex. C), but included in the proposed Charter a provision for the creation of a Citizens Advisory Commission on Reapportionment (the "Citizens Commission") to consider proposals and make recommendations for reconfiguration of the Common Council and the council districts "by the 30th day of July in the year following the decennial census" (see id. at Exs. D, H; see also Item 5, Ex. C, § 18-14). The voters adopted the new Charter, which became effective on July 1, 2000.

As reported in the May 4, 2001 edition of the Buffalo News, the reapportionment process contemplated by the new Charter was delayed to accommodate the City's challenge to the 2000 decennial census figures, which reflected an 11 percent decrease in population (to 292, 648) during the 1990s (see Item 78, Ex. F). In January 2002, the City Clerk published a notice soliciting nominations for the Citizens Commission, which was finally chosen in March 2002. Numerous downsizing and redistricting proposals were submitted to the Citizens Commission and/or the Common Council during the early months of 2002 (see id. at Ex. G), and fact finding sessions and public hearings were conducted. As a result, on May 23, 2002 the Citizens Commission presented its recommendation to the Common Council, proposing an eleven-member Council consisting of eight district members, two at-large members, and a Council President. The Council referred the recommendation to its Special Committee on Reapportionment (id. at ¶ 19).

A public hearing on reapportionment was conducted on July 22, 2002. The next day (July 23) the Common Council enacted Local Law No. 8, which called for a voter referendum on a proposal to amend the City Charter to eliminate the three at-large Council seats and the separately elected office of Council President, reducing the total number of council members from thirteen to nine. The vote on Local Law No. 8 was by simple majority, seven to six. As alleged in the complaint, the seven council members who voted for the enactment are White, and the six council members who voted against enactment are African-American (see Item 1, ¶ 61; Item 5, Ex. B). That same day the Council also passed, by the same vote, a resolution to retain the nine-district configuration, reapportioned to reflect the population changes reported in the 2000 census (referred to herein as the "Nine District Resolution") (id.) A further public hearing on reapportionment was conducted on August 15, 2002, and Mayor Masiello approved the Nine District Resolution on August 22, 2002.

Plaintiffs commenced this action on August 23, 2002 by service and filing of a summons and complaint seeking immediate injunctive and declaratory relief (a) to prevent the voter referendum on proposed Local Law No. 8, and (b) to implement a court-supervised reapportionment plan for the City (Item 1). The complaint named as defendants the City of Buffalo, the Common Council and its thirteen individual members, Mayor Masiello, and City Clerk Michaux, as well as the Erie County Board of Elections and Election Commissioners Laurence Adamczyk and Ralph Mohr. The complaint set forth three counts of violations of the federal Voting Rights Act (42 U.S.C. § 1973), two counts of violations of the criminal civil rights statutes (18 U.S.C. §§ 241 and 242), two counts of violations of the New York State Election Law, and four counts of violations of the City Charter and Code.

After making an initial finding that the plaintiffs had alleged sufficient facts on the face of the complaint for the court to assume subject matter jurisdiction over the action, the court took up plaintiffs' application for preliminary injunctive relief on an expedited basis. Upon meeting with counsel for the parties on September 16, 2002, and having considered the matters set forth in the pleadings, memoranda, affidavits, and exhibits filed by the parties, the court denied plaintiffs' application for preliminary injunctive relief but granted leave to file an amended complaint. Plaintiffs filed their first amended complaint on October 1, 2002 (Item 53), which eliminated the criminal civil rights claims but added claims for violation of the Equal Protection Clause (Counts I and II), the Due Process Clause (Count III), the Fifteenth Amendment (Count IV), 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983, 1985 and 1986 (Counts V, VI, X and XI), the New York State Constitution (Counts XII and XIII), and the New York State Municipal Home Rule Law (Count XIV). The amended complaint also eliminated the individual members of the Common Council as defendants. Plaintiffs did not renew their request for preliminary injunctive relief.

In the meantime, on September 17, 2002, the Common Council adopted Local Law No. 10 to amend the City Charter to state the metes and bounds of the newly revised council districts. Mayor Masiello vetoed this measure due to errors in the metes and bounds (see Item 78, ¶ 29). On October 15, 2002, the Council enacted Local Law No. 13 with metes and bounds corrected to reflect the Nine District Resolution and accompanying map (id., ¶ 30).

On November 5, 2002, the City electorate approved the referendum on Local Law No. 8 eliminating the three at-large positions on the Common Council as well as the separately elected position of Council President, effective January 1, 2004. On November 6, 2002, Mayor Masiello signed Local Law Number 13 setting forth the reapportioned metes and bounds of the City's nine council districts.

On March 12, 2003, this court granted plaintiffs leave to file a second amended complaint, upon specific conditions. The second amended complaint contained the same twenty counts as the first amended complaint, and virtually the same factual allegations and demands for relief, with only minor changes to reflect the events subsequent to October 1, 2002 pertaining to the enactment of the nine-district reapportionment plan and voter approval of the downsizing referendum. The major change concerned the addition of at-large Council Member Beverly A. Gray, whose seat was eliminated as a result of the November 5 election, as a party plaintiff.²

Defendants now move to dismiss the claims against the Common Council, the Mayor, and the City Clerk on the grounds of legislative immunity and lack of capacity to be sued (see Item 77, pp. 5-9). Defendants also move to dismiss the claim against the City for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, or in the...