Barnes Foundation v. Township of Lower Merion
| Decision Date | 26 September 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. CIV.A. 96-0372.,CIV.A. 96-0372. |
| Citation | 982 F.Supp. 970 |
| Parties | The BARNES FOUNDATION, Plaintiff, v. The TOWNSHIP OF LOWER MERION, the Lower Merion Board of Commissioners, Gloria P. Wolek, Frank Lutz, Kenneth E. Davis, Phyllis L. Zemble, Ora R. Pierce, James J. Prendergast, Alan C. Kessler, Brian D. Rosenthal, Joseph M. Manko, Howard L. West, W. Bruce McConnel III, James S. Ettelson, David A. Sonenshein, Regene H. Silver, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania |
Plaintiff the Barnes Foundation (the "Barnes") brought this action against Defendants the Township of Lower Merion (the "Township"), the Lower Merion Board of Commissioners, Gloria P. Wolek, Frank Lutz, Kenneth E. Davis, Phyllis L. Zemble, Ora R. Pierce, James J. Prendergast, Alan C. Kessler, Brian D. Rosenthal, Joseph M. Manko, Howard L. West, W. Bruce McConnel III, James S. Ettelson, and David A. Sonenshein (the "Commissioners") under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985(3) for violations of the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The crux of the Barnes's claim is that the Township and its Board of Commissioners enforced zoning, parking, police, and fire code regulations in a discriminatory manner against the Barnes because of their racial bias toward three of its Trustees who are African American. The Township and the Commissioners (collectively the "Defendants") now move for summary judgment under Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure because they assert that the Barnes does not have any evidence to present at trial that would show that they discriminated against it.1
My inquiry in deciding the Defendants' motions for summary judgment is a narrow one. I am not being called upon to decide the truth of either side's story or to determine what the facts are, for those are the functions of the jury. Rather, under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, my task in deciding these motions for summary judgment is to focus solely on the evidence supporting the Barnes's case and to determine whether it is sufficient to require a trial. This task requires me to resolve two questions, the first being whether the evidence supporting the Barnes's case would be admissible at trial under the Federal Rules of Evidence, and the second being whether, assuming that all of the Barnes's admissible evidence were true, that evidence would be legally sufficient to allow a jury to conclude that the Defendants had deprived the Barnes of its rights under either the Equal Protection Clause or the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248-50, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510-11, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). If the evidence supporting the Barnes's case were insufficient to allow a jury to make that conclusion, a trial would be unnecessary and the Defendants would be entitled to summary judgment.
After a careful examination of the evidence supporting the Barnes's case, I have concluded that the Barnes has not met its burden here. As stated before, the Barnes is claiming violations of the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.2 The law is clear as to what the Barnes would have to prove at trial. Under well-settled Supreme Court doctrine, in order to show that the Township and the Commissioners violated the Equal Protection Clause when they applied their zoning, parking, police, and fire code regulations to the Barnes — regulations that on their face apply to all citizens regardless of race — the Barnes would have to show that the Township and Commissioners in fact applied these facially neutral regulations on the basis of race. See Washington v. Davis, 426 U.S. 229, 239-42, 96 S.Ct. 2040, 2047-49, 48 L.Ed.2d 597 (1976); Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Hous. Dev. Corp., 429 U.S. 252, 265-66, 97 S.Ct. 555, 563-64, 50 L.Ed.2d 450 (1977); Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U.S. 356, 373-74, 6 S.Ct. 1064, 1072-73, 30 L.Ed. 220 (1886). In order to show that the Defendants applied these regulations on the basis of race, the Barnes would have to show, first, that the Defendants treated it differently than similarly situated institutions, and second, that they did so with the deliberate purpose or intent to discriminate against the Barnes because of the race of its Trustees. See Washington v. Davis, 426 U.S. at 239-42, 96 S.Ct. at 2047-49; Arlington Heights, 429 U.S. at 265, 97 S.Ct. at 563; Personnel Adm'r v. Feeney, 442 U.S. 256, 272, 99 S.Ct. 2282, 2292-93, 60 L.Ed.2d 870 (1979). Furthermore, in order to show that the Defendants acted with the deliberate purpose to discriminate on the basis of race, the Barnes would have to show that the Defendants "selected or reaffirmed a particular course of action at least in part `because of,' not merely `in spite of,'" the adverse effects it would have on institutions governed by African Americans, including the Barnes. See Personnel Adm'r v. Feeney, 442 U.S. at 279, 99 S.Ct. at 2296. Thus, in order to meet its burden under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to avoid summary judgment, the Barnes would have to show that it could produce admissible evidence at trial sufficient to allow the jury to conclude that the Defendants purposefully singled it out for differential treatment because three of its Trustees are African American.
The Barnes's burden under the Due Process Clause is similar to its burden under the Equal Protection Clause. In order to show that the Defendants violated the Due Process Clause when they applied their zoning, parking, police, and fire code regulations to the Barnes, the Barnes would have to show that the Defendants did not act in furtherance of any legitimate governmental purpose, but rather that they deliberately abused their power to discriminate against the Barnes because of the race of its Trustees. See Midnight Sessions, Ltd. v. City of Philadelphia, 945 F.2d 667, 683 (3d Cir.1991). Thus, as with the Equal Protection Clause, in order to avoid summary judgment, the Barnes would have to show...
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