Ball v. Harris

• Decision Date: 01 October 1980
• Docket Number: No. C-1-80-275.,C-1-80-275.
• Parties: Joyce BALL et al., Plaintiffs, v. Patricia HARRIS et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio

498 F. Supp. 110

Joyce BALL et al., Plaintiffs, v. Patricia HARRIS et al., Defendants.

No. C-1-80-275.

United States District Court, S. D. Ohio, W. D.

October 1, 1980.

John D. Woliver, Clermont County Legal Aid Society, Batavia, Ohio, for plaintiffs.

Delbert H. Lay, Asst. Pros. Atty., Clermont County Prosecutor, Batavia, Ohio, for defendants Harlan Wolfe and Clermont County Dept. of Welfare.

MEMORANDUM

HOGAN, Senior District Judge.

The plaintiffs filed this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, seeking injunctive and declaratory relief. Jurisdiction was alleged under 28 U.S.C. § 1331, § 1343(3) and § 1343(4). All state claims were included as within this Court's pendent jurisdiction. The complaint alleged the illegal and unconstitutional operation of state and federal welfare emergency assistance programs in Ohio, more specifically, the Family Emergency Assistance (hereinafter FEA) and Adult Emergency Assistance (hereinafter AEA) programs.

The action was proposed as a class action. There are four named plaintiffs: Joyce Ball, Kerrie Ball, David Jackson and Mary Jackson. All are residents of Clermont County, and were denied FEA benefits. This denial is the result of an apparent lack of funds in the Clermont County coffers. The plaintiffs allege that the failure to operate these programs in Clermont County, and the denial of benefits to them as a result, is in violation of the equal protection clause and due process clause of the fifth and fourteenth amendment. The action of the defendants is also alleged to be violative of 42 U.S.C. § 602, et seq., § 606(e)(1), 45 C.F.R. § 233.120, § 205.120, Article II, Section 26 of the Ohio Constitution, Ohio Rev. Code § 5101.16, Ohio Rev.Code § 5113, and Ohio Ad.Code, chapter 5101:1-7. The defendants named in the complaint were: Patricia Harris,¹ Kenneth Creasy,² Harlan Wolfe,³ the Ohio Department of Public Welfare (hereinafter ODPW), and the Clermont County Welfare Department. Ms. Harris was dismissed from the case by order of this Court (Doc. 6).

This case is before us now on a motion to dismiss on behalf of Mr. Creasy and the ODPW. These defendants seek dismissal under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6). Plaintiffs have responded to this motion. These same defendants have since sought a protective order under Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(c). The motion for a protective order need not be considered here, inasmuch as our ruling on the motion to dismiss will be dispositive of it. There are two issues before this Court: (1) whether there is subject matter jurisdiction in this district court, and (2) whether the issues presented in this case are moot. We answer both questions in the affirmative, and, therefore, dismiss the action as to Mr. Creasy and the ODPW (hereinafter the state defendants).

I.

The initial question before us is whether subject matter jurisdiction is vested in this court.⁴ The plaintiffs alleged jurisdiction under two sections of Title 28: § 1331, § 1343(3) and § 1343(4). The state defendants challenge these jurisdictional allegations. Plaintiffs bear the burden of supporting their allegations of jurisdiction. See Thomson v. Gaskill, 315 U.S. 442, 62 S.Ct. 673, 86 L.Ed. 951 (1942).

Plaintiffs have conceded that the dismissal of Ms. Harris destroys any jurisdictional claim under § 1331. Absent the federal defendant, plaintiffs must illustrate that the amount in controversy is in excess of $10,000. No attempt is made to show this. Therefore, there is no jurisdictional basis for this case under § 1331.

Plaintiffs assert several bases for jurisdiction under § 1343(3) and § 1343(4). This section exists specifically to provide jurisdiction in many 42 U.S.C. § 1983 actions. District courts are granted original jurisdiction under § 1343(3) and § 1343(4), in any civil action authorized by law to be commenced by any person:

(3) To redress the deprivation, under color of any State law, statute, ordinance, regulation, custom or usage, of any right, privilege or immunity secured by the Constitution of the United States or by any Act of Congress providing for equal rights of citizens or of all persons within the jurisdiction of the United States;

(4) To recover damages or to secure equitable or other relief under any Act of Congress providing for the protection of civil rights, including the right to vote.

The jurisdictional grant of § 1343(3) and (4) is not co-extensive with the right to seek redress under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Cf. Maine v. Thiboutot, ___ U.S. ___, 100 S.Ct. 2502, 65 L.Ed.2d 555 (1980) and Chapman v. Houston Welfare Rights Organization, 441 U.S. 600, 99 S.Ct. 1905, 60 L.Ed.2d 508 (1979). Plaintiffs here seek to base jurisdiction in the violation of the Social Security Act by the defendants. While violation of the Social Security Act provides a right of redress under § 1983, see Maine v. Thiboutot, ___ U.S. ___, 100 S.Ct. 2502, 65 L.Ed.2d 555 (1980), the Act neither provides for equal rights, nor protects civil rights and, therefore, the jurisdictional grant of § 1343(3) and (4), as to Acts of Congress, are not applicable. Chapman v. Houston Welfare Rights Organization, 441 U.S. 600, 99 S.Ct. 1905, 60 L.Ed.2d 508 (1979).

The Chapman decision effectively precludes jurisdiction based on statutory grounds in this case. The Chapman Court held that the alleged incompatibility of a state welfare regulation and the Social Security Act was, alone, insufficient to grant jurisdiction under § 1343(3) or § 1343(4). Justice Stevens, writing for the majority, noted that § 1343 jurisdiction was dependent upon two points: (1) an action authorized by law, and (2) a deprivation of rights. These rights, secured by an Act of Congress, must be civil rights or involve equal rights. Since the Social Security Act does not secure either of such types of rights, § 1343 jurisdiction failed. The Chapman case also foreclosed the use of the Supremacy clause as a constitutional issue to bring state regulations conflicting with a federal statute into § 1343 jurisdiction.

The practical effect of the Chapman decision on the instant case is that one of the plaintiffs' constitutional challenges must be found to be at least somewhat meritorious for this Court to have jurisdiction. The Chapman decision does not prevent assumption of jurisdiction where a constitutional issue exists. See McManama v. Lukhard, 616 F.2d 727 (4th Cir. 1980).

Plaintiffs allege constitutional issues in their complaint. The state defendants counter that these allegations are so insubstantial that they are plainly without merit, and therefore insufficient to confer § 1343(3) jurisdiction, citing Hagans v. Lavine, 415 U.S. 528, 94 S.Ct. 1372, 39 L.Ed.2d 577 (1974). The Hagans decision is analagous in many ways with the case at bar. The plaintiff in Hagans challenged a provision of the New York Code of Rules and Regulations, which allegedly violated the equal protection clause and contravened the Social Security Act. The district court found the constitutional claim sufficient to confer jurisdiction. The Court of Appeals reversed. The Supreme Court reversed. After noting that the cause created by § 1983 did not confer jurisdiction, but that § 1343(3) could if the constitutional claim was of sufficient substance, Justice White, writing for the Court, reviewed a line of cases stating the rule in many different ways. Jurisdiction does not vest if the constitutional claim is so attenuated and unsubstantial as to be absolutely devoid of merit, Newburyport Water Co. v. Newburyport, 193 U.S. 561, 579, 24 S.Ct. 553, 557, 48 L.Ed. 795 (1904); wholly insubstantial, Bailey v. Patterson, 369 U.S. 31, 33, 82 S.Ct. 549, 550, 7 L.Ed.2d 512 (1962); obviously frivolous, Hannis Distilling Co. v. Baltimore, 216 U.S. 285, 288, 30 S.Ct. 326, 327, 54 L.Ed. 482 (1910); plainly insubstantial, Levering and Garrigues Co. v. Morrin, 289 U.S. 103, 105, 53 S.Ct. 549, 550, 77 L.Ed. 1062 (1933); no longer open to discussion, McGilvra v. Ross, 215 U.S. 70, 80, 30 S.Ct. 27, 31, 54 L.Ed. 95 (1909); either obviously without merit or its unsoundness so clearly results from previous decisions of this court as to foreclose the subject, Ex parte Poresky, 290 U.S. 30, 31-32, 54 S.Ct. 314, 78 L.Ed. 152 (1933). Justice White stated that while the Court of Appeals may have properly reasoned as to the propriety of the challenged provision under the equal protection clause, it was not immediately obvious or so very plain as to be insubstantial.

The rule of substantiality has been stated in many ways, as previously indicated. When distilled, the doctrine states that the constitutional issue cannot be insubstantial. A more descriptive analysis indicates that insubstantiality exists if: (1) the constitutional claim is obviously without merit or (2) the claim is rendered frivolous by previous decisions. See Sims v. Waln, 536 F.2d 686 (6th Cir. 1976) cert. den. 431 U.S. 903, 97 S.Ct. 1693, 52 L.Ed.2d 386 (1977).

Defendants argue that Benton v. Rhodes, 586 F.2d 1 (6th Cir. 1978) cert. den. sub nom. Wisebaker v. Rhodes, 440 U.S. 973, 99 S.Ct. 1539, 59 L.Ed.2d 791 (1979) and Dandridge v. Williams, 397 U.S. 471, 90 S.Ct. 1153, 25 L.Ed.2d 491 (1970) are dispositive of the plaintiffs' constitutional claims in the present case. While this Court would be amenable to the assertion that the Benton decision goes a long way in emasculating the due process claim here, there is nothing in either case that very plainly invalidates plaintiffs' equal protection challenge. Equal protection was not at issue in the Benton case, and such analysis was not foreclosed by the Dandridge decision. The Dandridge Court had no intention to suspend the operation of the equal protection clause in the field of social welfare law. Hagans v. Lavine, 415 U.S. 528, 94 S.Ct. 1372, 39 L.Ed.2d 577 (1974). Courts have frequently reviewed social welfare cases on the basis of equal protection challenges. See Miller v. Youakim, 440 U.S. 125, 99 S.Ct. 957, 59 L.Ed.2d 194 (1979); Hagans v. Lavine, 415 U.S. 528, ...