Bradley v. Work

• Decision Date: 13 February 1996
• Docket Number: No. IP 91-898 C.,IP 91-898 C.
• Citation: 916 F. Supp. 1446
• Parties: Hilbert L. BRADLEY, Thomas Z. Lewis, Barbara J. Cox, John Henry Hall, Imogene Harris, James T. Harris, Katie Hall, Henry E. Bennett, Edward D. Hegwood, and Karen Pulliam Willis, Plaintiffs, v. Frederick T. WORK, Anna N. Anton, and Jerome Reppa, in their official capacities as members of the Lake County Election Board, and Anton in her official capacity as Clerk of the Lake County Circuit and Superior Courts, Defendants, Randall T. Shepard, Harold Abrahamsom, Angelo Buoscio, Donald P. Levinson, Ruby S. Catlow, and Dean V. White, in their official capacities as members of the Judicial Nominating Commission for the Lake County Superior Court, Intervening Defendants, Morton B. Kanz, James Danikolas, Gerald Svetanoff, James J. Richards, Jeffrey Dywan, Nicholas J. Schiralli, Paul D. Stanko, Bernard A. Carter, Richard W. Marco, James E. Letsinger, Richard J. Conroy, James L. Clement, and Darlene Wanda Mears, in their official capacities as Judges of the Lake County Superior Court, Intervening Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Indiana

916 F. Supp. 1446

Hilbert L. BRADLEY, Thomas Z. Lewis, Barbara J. Cox, John Henry Hall, Imogene Harris, James T. Harris, Katie Hall, Henry E. Bennett, Edward D. Hegwood, and Karen Pulliam Willis, Plaintiffs, v. Frederick T. WORK, Anna N. Anton, and Jerome Reppa, in their official capacities as members of the Lake County Election Board, and Anton in her official capacity as Clerk of the Lake County Circuit and Superior Courts, Defendants Randall T. Shepard, Harold Abrahamsom, Angelo Buoscio, Donald P. Levinson, Ruby S. Catlow, and Dean V. White, in their official capacities as members of the Judicial Nominating Commission for the Lake County Superior Court, Intervening Defendants Morton B. Kanz, James Danikolas, Gerald Svetanoff, James J. Richards, Jeffrey Dywan, Nicholas J. Schiralli, Paul D. Stanko, Bernard A. Carter, Richard W. Marco, James E. Letsinger, Richard J. Conroy, James L. Clement, and Darlene Wanda Mears, in their official capacities as Judges of the Lake County Superior Court, Intervening Defendants.

No. IP 91-898 C.

United States District Court, S.D. Indiana, Indianapolis Division.

February 13, 1996.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Stephen Laudig, Laudig & George, Indianapolis, IN, William R. Groth, Fillenwarth Dennerline Groth & Baird, Indianapolis, IN, Hilbert L. Bradley, Gary, IN, for Hilbert L. Bradley, Thomas Z. Lewis, Barbara J. Cox, John Henry Hall, Imogene Harris, James T. Harris, Katie Hall, Henry E. Bennett, Edward D. Hegwood, Karen Pulliam Willis.

Gary P. Price, Lewis and Kappes, Indianapolis, IN, for Hilbert L. Bradley.

Ronald E. Elberger, George T. Patton, Bose McKinney & Evans, Indianapolis, IN, for Randall T. Shepard, Angelo Buoscio, Harold Abrahamson, Ruby Catlow, Dean V. White, Donald P. Levinson, Morton B. Kanz, James Danikolas, Gerald Svetanoff, James J. Richards, Jeffrey Dywan, Nicholas J. Schiralli, Paul D. Stanko, Bernard A. Carter, Richard W. Marco, James E. Letsinger, Richard J. Conroy, James L. Clement, Darlene Wanda Mears.

J. Justin Murphy, Murphy Law Firm, Hammond, IN, for Frederick T. Work, Robert C. Antich, Jerome Reppa.

Edward H. Feldman, Highland, IN, for Robert C. Antich.

J. Michael Katz, Merrillvill, IN, for Anna N. Anton.

ORDER ON MOTIONS TO DISMISS AND FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

McKINNEY, District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on a motion to dismiss and motions for summary judgment filed by various parties. The intervening defendants have filed a motion to dismiss Count II, and a motion for summary judgment on Counts I and III of the plaintiffs' fifth amended complaint. The Lake County Election Board members have apparently joined the motion for summary judgment, but the record is not clear as to whether they have joined in the motion to dismiss filed by the intervening defendants. In conjunction with their response to the intervening defendants' motion to dismiss, the plaintiffs filed a motion for partial summary judgment on Count II. They also filed a cross-motion for summary judgment on Counts I and III. For the reasons discussed below the Court GRANTS the intervening defendants' motion to dismiss Count II, GRANTS summary judgment in favor of all defendants on Counts I and III, and DENIES the plaintiffs' motions for summary judgment on all counts.

An assortment of motions to strike have also been filed by the intervening defendants, joined by the defendants.¹ The motion to strike plaintiffs' motion for partial summary judgment for failure to comply with L.R. 56.1 is moot in light of the Court's granting of intervening defendants' motion to dismiss Count II. The motions to strike various pieces of evidence offered by the plaintiffs in opposition to or support of the motions for summary judgment are well-taken and to the extent that the proffered evidentiary materials contain inadmissible hearsay, lay opinions, speculations, or conclusions, they are stricken. In addition, because the plaintiffs failed to provide the Court with any sort of guide by which to navigate the maze of evidentiary submissions, or with which to connect the various pieces of evidence with the proposed "material facts related to" the various summary judgment motions, the proffered evidence is less than helpful. See Waldridge v. American Hoechst Corp., 24 F.3d 918, 923 (7th Cir.1994) (the statements and designations required by local rules provide "roadmaps," without which the court should not have to proceed).

The plaintiffs mistake the Supreme Court's admonition not to apply the Gingles factors² in a mechanical fashion, for permission to ignore the Federal Rules of Procedure and this District's local rules. The requirements of those rules are aimed at facilitating the use of summary judgments for weeding out claims that are not based on reliable evidence or are factually unsupported. See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323-34, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552-53, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). Just because the substantive standards in a particular area of law are to be applied in a comprehensive, non-restrictive fashion, does not mean that a party can overcome a well-supported motion for summary judgment with global citations to general treatises, historical texts, and old newspaper and periodical articles. Rule 56 states that to overcome summary judgment, the non-movant must set forth specific facts supported by depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with any affidavits, showing that a genuine issue exists.

Plaintiffs' evidentiary materials are not only difficult to comprehend in relation to the briefing submitted, they are also permeated with conclusions about the ultimate facts that must be found in this case in order to establish a violation of § 2. To the extent that the materials contain hearsay, conclusions, speculations, unsupported opinions and statements of fact, the plaintiffs' evidentiary materials will be disregarded. Moreover, the Court will not refer to any evidentiary materials that are not properly designated as supporting a particular material fact. Therefore, defendants' various motions to strike plaintiffs' evidentiary materials, including the disputed affidavits, are sustained in part and overruled in part. With respect to the Voters' thirty-five page brief submitted in response to defendants' filing of supplemental authority, the Court finds that plaintiffs' brief is an unwarranted additional filing in opposition to defendants' summary judgment motion and it should, therefore, be stricken.

I. FACTUAL & PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The plaintiffs are "black citizens, residents of Lake County, Indiana, and registered voters" (the "Voters"). Fifth Amended Complaint (hereafter "Complaint") at ¶ 2. Lake County is located in the far northwest corner of Indiana, near Lake Michigan and Chicago, and as of the 1990 census the county contained 475,594 people, 116,688 of whom are African-American (24.5%). Complt. ¶ 6. The voting age population is 342,427, 22.5% of whom are African-American. Defendants Frederick T. Work, Anna N. Anton³ and Jerome Reppa are the current members of the Lake County Election Board, and are sued in their official capacities. Anton is also the Clerk of the Lake County Circuit and Superior Courts. Complaint at ¶ 3. The intervening defendants include the current or former members of the Lake County Judicial Nominating Commission (the "Commission") and certain of the current or former judges of the Lake County Superior Court (the "Judges" or collectively the "Intervenors").⁴

For purposes of the motion to dismiss Count II, all of the well-pleaded facts in the Complaint will be taken as true. The Voters contend that they and other black citizens have been deprived of a fair opportunity to elect judges of their choice in Lake County. The Superior Court of Lake County consists of four divisions, which includes the civil, criminal and juvenile divisions, with ten judges, and a separate county division, with three judges. Under Indiana law, the judges of the county division are elected by popular vote on an at-large, county-wide basis. The judges of the other divisions, however, are selected differently. If a vacancy occurs in one of those divisions, the governor of Indiana appoints a new judge from a list of three nominees recommended by the Lake County Judicial Nominating Commission, which is established specifically to assist with filling vacancies on the Lake County Superior Court. See Ind.Code §§ 33-5-29.5-28 to 29.5-38.⁵

The Commission consists of a total of nine members under the current law. It includes the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Indiana, or his designee, four attorney-members selected by the licensed attorneys of Lake County, and four non-attorney citizens of Lake County. The non-attorney members were appointed by the governor under the old law, but are now appointed by members of the Lake County Board of Commissioners. The Commission members review applications for judicial appointments, assess each candidate in light of statutory requirements, and then recommend the three most highly qualified candidates to the governor. Ind. Code § 33-5-29.5-36(a). The Commission is also responsible for including a written evaluation of the qualifications of each candidate with its list of three recommended candidates. Ind.Code § 33-5-29.5-37.

After a judge is appointed to the civil, criminal, or juvenile divisions, he or she serves an initial term commencing on the effective date of the appointment and continuing through December 31 in the year of the general election that follows the expiration of two years from the effective date.⁶ Ind.Code § 33-5-29.5-41. At the conclusion of the judge's term, the judge must submit to an at-large, county-wide retention election in order to serve another term. If the judge fails to win retention a vacancy ensues, and the Commission submits another list of three nominees to the governor who appoints a replacement.

In their Fifth Amended Complaint, which was filed on ...