CANDY H. v. Redemption Ranch, Inc.

• Decision Date: 02 May 1983
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 82-100-N.
• Citation: 563 F. Supp. 505
• Parties: CANDY H., etc., Plaintiff, Tonya B., etc., Plaintiff-Intervenor, v. REDEMPTION RANCH, INC., et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Alabama

563 F. Supp. 505

CANDY H., etc., Plaintiff Tonya B., etc., Plaintiff-Intervenor, v. REDEMPTION RANCH, INC., et al., Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 82-100-N.

United States District Court, M.D. Alabama, N.D.

May 2, 1983.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Morris S. Dees, Stephen J. Ellmann, Dennis N. Balske, John L. Carroll, and Ira A. Burnim, Montgomery, Ala., for plaintiff and plaintiff-intervenor.

David Gibbs and Richard Moore, Parma Heights, Ohio, and T.K. Moffett, Tupelo, Miss., for defendants.

OPINION

MYRON H. THOMPSON, District Judge.

Now before the court are three motions: a motion for preliminary injunction filed by the plaintiffs Candy H. and Tonya B.¹ and two motions to dismiss filed by the defendants Redemption Ranch, Inc., Bethesda Home for Girls, and Bob Wills.² For reasons set out below this court finds that all the motions are due to be denied.

I. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

This case began on February 10, 1982, with the filing of a complaint on behalf of Candy H., alleging that Candy, a nineteen year old pregnant woman, had been fraudulently induced by the defendants to leave her home in Montgomery, Alabama, and to enter the Bethesda Home for Girls in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The complaint premised on 42 U.S.C.A. 1985(3) sought primarily injunctive and declaratory relief, damages, and attorney fees.³ Accompanying the complaint were two affidavits and a motion for temporary restraining order, requesting that the court order the defendants to produce Candy H., allow her to meet with her mother, and allow Candy's mother to take Candy home should Candy desire to leave. The affidavits presented evidence which suggested that the defendants had coerced Candy into remaining at the home even though she actually expressed her desire to return to Montgomery. The affidavit of Candy's twin sister suggested that Candy may have been in fear of punishment or reprisal from the home should she have strenuously vocalized her desire to leave or acted on her own to leave. This affidavit also suggested that Candy was not being allowed to communicate freely with her family regarding the practices of the home. In response, this court granted the plaintiffs' motion for temporary restraining order, ordered the defendants to allow Candy to meet with her mother, and directed the defendants not to interfere with Candy should she desire to return to Montgomery. Pursuant to that order Candy's mother travelled to Hattiesburg, met with Candy, and brought her back to Montgomery.

On February 17, 1982, Candy filed an amended complaint and a motion for preliminary injunction.⁴ In her amended complaint Candy sought to be declared a representative of the putative class of "all other unwed pregnant girls who have been, are being, or will be kept at Bethesda Home for Girls." The court set Candy's motion for preliminary injunction for hearing on March 4, 1982, and ordered discovery to proceed on an expedited basis.⁵ On February 18, 1982, the court ordered the plaintiffs to file a surety bond of $75,000.00 "to secure the payment of such costs and damages not to exceed such sum as may be suffered or sustained by any party found to be wrongfully enjoined by the orders of this court." On February 26, 1982, Tonya B. moved to intervene as a plaintiff in this suit, and requested a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order on behalf of herself and four other girls being held at the Bethesda Home. On March 1, 1982, this court granted Tonya's motion to intervene but denied her motion for temporary restraining order on the grounds that she and the four other girls mentioned in her motion had already been released from the home. Tonya then filed her complaint in intervention seeking injunctive and declaratory relief, damages, and attorney fees, as well as certification of the class of "all females who are confined or might be confined at the Bethesda Home for Girls in Hattiesburg, Mississippi." This action then proceeded quickly to a hearing on Candy's and Tonya's motions for preliminary injunction.

Between March 4 and April 9, 1982, this court heard testimony on the plaintiffs' motions for preliminary injunction. During this time the plaintiffs amended their complaints to strike their prayers for damages. Also during this time the court—relying upon the pleadings, some of the evidence received on the motions for preliminary injunction, and other evidentiary materials submitted by the parties—issued orders denying the defendants Redemption Ranch, Inc., Bethesda Home for Girls, and Bob Wills's then recently filed motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, motion to dismiss for improper venue, and motion for transfer.

On May 17, 1982, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. Later, on August 6, 1982, the defendants renewed their motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction.

II. FINDINGS⁶

Candy H. is a resident of the Middle District of Alabama and Tonya B. is a resident of Arkansas. Redemption Ranch, Inc., which owns both Bethesda Home for Girls and a nearby boys home, is a Mississippi corporation with its principal place of business in Mississippi. The Bethesda Home is located in Mississippi, about twenty miles outside Hattiesburg. Bob Wills, the principal operator of the Bethesda Home and an officer and director of Redemption Ranch, resides at the home with his wife, Betty Wills.

Both Bethesda and the boys home are operated as ministries of the independent Baptist faith and have procured and housed young people from across the United States. These homes and Redemption frequently sent Bob Wills and young people from the two homes to visit various states in order to publicize the work of the homes, obtain financial support, and recruit young people for the homes. During these trips, Wills and the young people visited various churches where they sang and often "testified" about their religious experiences and about the help they were receiving from Wills at the homes. Also at these gatherings, Wills spoke about the work of Redemption and the homes, solicited contributions from the attending congregations, and distributed literature describing the homes. By these trips throughout the country, Wills was able to establish a network of churches whose pastors and members referred young people to the Mississippi homes. Over the two years prior to this lawsuit, Wills made at least ten such trips to Alabama and by these trips and the resulting referrals was able to obtain many young people from Alabama. In fact, prior to the filing of this lawsuit, Wills and the young people from the homes were scheduled to make another such trip to Montgomery, Alabama in April 1982, to the Friendship Baptist Church, the church where Candy learned of Bethesda. Furthermore, as a part of its publicity campaign, Bethesda mailed thousands of brochures, called "the Bethesda Babbler," to its financial contributors and supporters, a substantial number of whom are Alabama residents. These brochures contained information about Bethesda's work, thanked past contributors, and indicated Bethesda's need for additional financial support.

To defray the cost of keeping the young people, both Bethesda and the boys home requested and normally received "contributions" from the parents and guardians of the young people admitted. Although parents and guardians were requested to contribute according to their financial ability, Bethesda suggested a contribution of $250.00 per month per girl as the amount needed to defray a girl's living expenses. Furthermore, in addition to the money received from the trips and from parents and guardians of young people at the homes, the homes received substantial contributions from other churches and individuals.

During the time that Wills has owned Redemption and operated Bethesda, the State of Alabama has been the source of more young girls than any other state except Georgia. Furthermore, of the $160,969.61 total amount received in 1981 in contributions, other than from parents or guardians of young people at the two homes, 12.9% or $20,716.92 came from Alabama contributors; and of the 166 total towns from which contributions were received, 12.6% or 21 were Alabama towns.

Candy first learned of Redemption and the Bethesda Home from Reverend John Knudsen, pastor of Friendship Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, who, as a part of the referral network for Bethesda and the boys home, had learned of Redemption when his church was host to a choir group from the boys home approximately four years ago and from literature he had recently received from Bethesda. Candy, who was unmarried and four months pregnant, had been introduced to Knudsen by her sister. Knudsen, who had already taken at least one boy from Montgomery to Redemption's boys home, counselled Candy to go to Bethesda where she purportedly could have her child in privacy and arrange for its adoption by a Christian family. He explained to her that Bethesda had many restrictions, including the censoring of mail. Knudsen then telephoned Wills, who initially professed that Bethesda did not have room for Candy, on at least two occasions and arranged for Candy to talk to Wills. After Candy talked with Wills and agreed to abide by the rules of Bethesda, Wills agreed to take Candy and Candy agreed to go to Bethesda. Candy's mother, however, was concerned about the fact that the home censored all mail and about the fact that she knew little or nothing about the home. She and Candy therefore agreed that should Candy want to leave the home but was unable to make her desire known to her mother, she was to write her mother a letter in which the salutatory "dear" was misspelled "deer."

On or about January 23, 1982, Knudsen and another man took Candy, accompanied by her twin sister, from Montgomery, Alabama to Hattiesburg, Mississippi. When Candy arrived at Bethesda, Linda Williams, an employee...