Bryan v. Koch

• Decision Date: 23 May 1980
• Docket Number: No. 79 Civ. 4274 (ADS),79 Civ. 4329 (ADS) and 80 Civ. 2417 (ADS).,79 Civ. 4274 (ADS)
• Parties: David E. BRYAN, Jr.; Ebun Adelona, for herself and as mother and next friend for N'zinga; Altagracia Tejeda, for herself and as mother and next friend for Antonia; Celeste Feaster; and Minnie Winfree; Individually and on behalf of all other persons similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. Edward I. KOCH, Mayor, City of New York; City of New York; New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation; Haskell Ward, Deputy Mayor and Chairman, Board of Directors, NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation; Joseph C. Hoffman, President, NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation; State of New York; New York Department of Health; David Axelrod, NYS Commissioner of Health; Richard Berman, Director, Office of Health Systems Management; and United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Defendants. DISTRICT COUNCIL 37, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF STATE, COUNTY AND MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES UNION, AFL-CIO; Annie Norris; Robert Booth; Miriam Falcon; Daniel Edwards; Elizabeth Girodes, Plaintiffs, v. Edward I. KOCH, Mayor, City of New York; City of New York; New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation; Haskell Ward, Deputy Mayor and Chairman, Board of Directors, NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation; Joseph C. Hoffman, President, NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation, Defendants. Naomi BOYD, Luz Medina, Luz Padilla, Elizabeth Smith, Citywide Coalition to Save our Hospitals, Community Coalition to Save Metropolitan Hospital, Coalition in Defense of Puerto Rican and Hispanic Rights, Community Coalition to Save Sydenham Hospital, Plaintiffs, v. Patricia HARRIS, Individually and in her capacity as Secretary of the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare; Edward I. Koch, Individually and in his capacity as Mayor of the City of New York; City of New York; Health and Hospitals Corporation; Joseph C. Hoffman, Individually and in his capacity as President of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation; Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

492 F. Supp. 212

David E. BRYAN, Jr.; Ebun Adelona, for herself and as mother and next friend for N'zinga; Altagracia Tejeda, for herself and as mother and next friend for Antonia; Celeste Feaster; and Minnie Winfree; Individually and on behalf of all other persons similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. Edward I. KOCH, Mayor, City of New York; City of New York; New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation; Haskell Ward, Deputy Mayor and Chairman, Board of Directors, NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation; Joseph C. Hoffman, President, NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation; State of New York; New York Department of Health; David Axelrod, NYS Commissioner of Health; Richard Berman, Director, Office of Health Systems Management; and United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Defendants.

DISTRICT COUNCIL 37, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF STATE, COUNTY AND MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES UNION, AFL-CIO; Annie Norris; Robert Booth; Miriam Falcon; Daniel Edwards; Elizabeth Girodes, Plaintiffs, v. Edward I. KOCH, Mayor, City of New York; City of New York; New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation; Haskell Ward, Deputy Mayor and Chairman, Board of Directors, NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation; Joseph C. Hoffman, President, NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation, Defendants.

Naomi BOYD, Luz Medina, Luz Padilla, Elizabeth Smith, Citywide Coalition to Save our Hospitals, Community Coalition to Save Metropolitan Hospital, Coalition in Defense of Puerto Rican and Hispanic Rights, Community Coalition to Save Sydenham Hospital, Plaintiffs, v. Patricia HARRIS, Individually and in her capacity as Secretary of the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare; Edward I. Koch, Individually and in his capacity as Mayor of the City of New York; City of New York; Health and Hospitals Corporation; Joseph C. Hoffman, Individually and in his capacity as President of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation; Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Defendants.

Nos. 79 Civ. 4274 (ADS), 79 Civ. 4329 (ADS) and 80 Civ. 2417 (ADS).

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

May 23, 1980.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Jack Greenberg, Beth J. Lief, NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc., New York City, for plaintiffs in Bryan v. Koch.

Beverly Gross, Karen S. Smith, Joel Giller, New York City, for plaintiffs, in District Council 37 v. Koch.

Herbert Semmel, Sanford A. Newman, Center for Law and Social Policy, Washington, D. C., for individual plaintiffs in District Council 37 v. Koch.

Louis B. York, Ramon J. Jimenez, Richard Clifford, Manhattan Legal Services Corp., New York City, for plaintiffs in Boyd v. Harris.

Allen G. Schwartz, New York City Corp. Counsel, New York City, by Bruce S. Kaplan, Norma Kerlin, Bradley Sacks, New York City, for City defendants.

Robert Abrams, New York State Atty. Gen., New York City, by Judith Gordon, Ann Horowitz, New York City, for state defendants.

John S. Martin, Jr., U. S. Atty., Southern District of New York, New York City, by William Hibsher, Asst. U. S. Atty., New York City, for defendants Patricia Harris and Dept. of Health, Ed. and Welfare.

AMENDED OPINION

SOFAER, District Judge.

These actions all seek to prevent Mayor Edward I. Koch, and others, from implementing a plan to close certain municipal hospitals in the City of New York. At issue now is the closure of Sydenham Hospital, since the City has yet to decide whether other proposed closings should be implemented.

The defendant Health and Hospitals Corporation ("HHC") operates the City's municipal hospital system, which includes 13 acute care hospitals and four long-term care facilities for the treatment of the chronically ill and infirm. New York City's municipal hospital system is by far the largest system of its kind in the country.¹ The hospitals in the municipal system provide health care to anyone who presents himself for treatment, without regard to ability to pay. Consequently, the budget of HHC constitutes over 10% of the total expense budget of the City of New York for fiscal year 1980 — about $1.2 billion. In fiscal year 1980, the City of New York will contribute over $500,000,000 of tax funds to subsidize the operations of the hospital system. City Defendants' Trial Mem., p. 20.

Sydenham Hospital, located at 565 Manhattan Avenue near West 124th Street, is a provider of general, inpatient hospital care.² It is the smallest of New York's 13 acute care municipal hospitals. In fiscal year 1979, Sydenham admitted 3711 inpatients (1.5% of HHC's total), treated 25,690 emergency room patients (1.8% of HHC's total), and housed an average of 93 inpatients per day.³ Sydenham serves primarily the population of the Central Harlem and West Harlem communities east of Morningside Heights. Most of the residents of these communities are black.

Plaintiffs contend that closing Sydenham would violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000d et seq.⁴ They represent three separate groups, two of which seek class certification.⁵ On February 8, 1980, plaintiffs in the Bryan and District Council 37 cases moved to enjoin the City defendants from closing Sydenham pending a full trial on the merits, or alternatively until defendants guaranteed inpatient and emergency services to the population served by Sydenham.⁶ A lengthy hearing was held on this motion. Numerous witnesses testified. Affidavits supplemented the live testimony. And a massive record of exhibits has been compiled. The hearing ended on April 17, 1980. Post-hearing submissions continue to be made as of May 15, 1980.

The Mayor has stated his intention to order Sydenham closed on May 16, 1980. The schedule that his decision compelled has been exacting. Under normal circumstances, a temporary restraining order would have been justified to permit the preparation and filing of detailed findings and conclusions.

But this is no ordinary case. It appears, rather, to be an effort by plaintiffs to use the federal courts as a last resort for delaying if not preventing the implementation by elected officials of a painful but purely political decision. Under these circumstances, to delay the closing of Sydenham for any period — particularly for the decision-making convenience of this court — would serve to undermine the authority and governing capacity of the City's responsible officials.

I. Standard for Preliminary Relief

The Second Circuit has made clear that preliminary relief is appropriate only where the party seeking it shows possible irreparable injury. In addition, the moving party must establish:

either (1) probable success on the merits or (2) sufficiently serious questions going to the merits to make them a fair ground for litigation and a balance of hardships tipping decidedly in the movant's favor.

E. g., Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, Inc. v. Pussycat Cinema, Ltd., 604 F.2d 200, 206-07 (2d Cir. 1979).⁷

Defendants urge that relief be denied simply because no possible irreparable injury has been shown. This is so, if for no other reason than the fact that plaintiff's alternative request for preliminary relief — guaranteed access to inpatient and emergency services for Sydenham patients without unreasonable burdens — has been demonstrated. See note 6, supra. In this case, however, the lack of merit in plaintiffs' contentions even more clearly mandates denying preliminary relief than the absence of irreparable injury.

II. Likelihood of Success on the Merits

Plaintiffs present several claims. All relate ultimately to the contention that defendants have violated the rights of minorities in attempting to close Sydenham. Some clearly lack merit, such as the assertion by plaintiffs in Boyd that Sydenham must be kept open until the Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS") (formerly Health, Education and Welfare, "HEW") completes its investigation as to the City's compliance with Title VI.⁸ Most are complicated claims, however, and so novel that pains have been taken to compile a record on issues which reviewing courts may see fit to address. In particular, this case requires federal courts to determine when the reduction of services to minorities by recipients of federal funds violates the Constitution and laws of the United States. The answers we give to this question are important in present times, when reductions in government services have become increasingly common, particularly in areas heavily populated by minorities.

A. Claimed Violation of Equal Protection

The legal standard that governs relief under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires proof that the challenged law or conduct "ultimately be traced to a racially discriminatory purpose." Washington v. Davis, 426 U.S. 229, 240, 96 S.Ct. 2040, 2048, 48 L.Ed.2d 597 (1976). Discriminatory impact is insufficient in itself to support a conclusion of discriminatory purpose. Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp., 429 U.S. 252, 270, 97 S.Ct. 555, 566, 50 L.Ed.2d 450 (1977); Washington v. Davis, supra, 426 U.S. at 242, 96 S.Ct. at 2048. Furthermore, although the foreseeability of a racially adverse impact is still a proper consideration in determining discriminatory purpose,⁹ a foreseeable adverse impact in itself is insufficient to prove discriminatory purpose. Personnel Administrator of Mass. v. Feeney, 442 U.S. 256, 279 n. 25, 99 S.Ct. 2282, 2296, 60 L.Ed.2d 870 (1979); Columbus Board of Education v. Penick, 443 U.S. 449, 99 S.Ct. 2941, 61 L.Ed.2d 666 (1979); Dayton Board of Education v. Brinkman, 443 U.S. 526, 99 S.Ct. 2971, 61 L.Ed.2d 720 (1979).

Plaintiffs properly argue that these new standards, although demanding, permit parties to prove discriminatory purpose by inference from objective evidence. "Determining whether invidious discriminatory purpose was a motivating factor requires a sensitive...