Carder v. Michigan City School Corp.

• Decision Date: 14 December 1982
• Docket Number: No. S 82-440.,S 82-440.
• Parties: Sheryl CARDER, individually and as representative for a class of parents similarly situated, and Dennis Wilson, individually and as representative for a class of students similarly situated, and Reuben Carder, Plaintiffs, v. MICHIGAN CITY SCHOOL CORPORATION and Verne Ashe.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Indiana

552 F. Supp. 869

Sheryl CARDER, individually and as representative for a class of parents similarly situated, and Dennis Wilson, individually and as representative for a class of students similarly situated, and Reuben Carder, Plaintiffs, v. MICHIGAN CITY SCHOOL CORPORATION and Verne Ashe.

No. S 82-440.

United States District Court, N.D. Indiana, South Bend Division.

December 14, 1982.

Jonathan R. O'Hara, Valparaiso, Ind., for plaintiffs.

Donald E. Transki, Merlyn Charles Bartlett, Michigan City, Ind., Lloyd M. Allen, David M. McTigue, South Bend, Ind., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

SHARP, Chief Judge.

Plaintiffs' claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 should be maintained because the plaintiffs have alleged separate independent federal claims recognizable under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The facts alleged in plaintiffs' complaint state claims for denial of due process and equal protection guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. The suspension of a student from school for a parent's failure to pay textbook fees amounts to a denial of equal protection. Canton v. Spokane School District # 81, 498 F.2d 840 (9th Cir.1974). The fact that the plaintiffs added a claim for violation of state rights does not mean that the plaintiffs' claim is based upon the statute. I.C. § 20-8.1-9-10 prohibits the denial of privileges or benefits for failure to pay school fees. The viability of plaintiffs' federal claims does not in any way depend upon the existence of the state statute. Since one of the purposes of § 1983 is to provide a remedy in the federal courts supplementary to any remedy a state might have, plaintiffs are not precluded from bringing this action in federal court under § 1983 despite the presence of the state statute.

No exhaustion requirement should be imposed by this Court because it is not clear that the Indiana legislature intended to provide administrative remedies for this type of violation. Defendants cite a statute which appears in a different chapter than the one dealing with non-payment of textbook fees. Applying the administrative remedy statute, I.C. § 20-8.1-5-14, to the statute dealing with textbook fees, I.C. § 20-8.1-9-10, is illogical. Before this Court could ever impose an exhaustion requirement, it must find that the remedy suggested by the defendants was intended by the Indiana legislature to apply to the fact situation alleged by the plaintiffs. Defendants have failed to show that the remedy clearly applies to the fact situation before this Court. This Court therefore will not impose an exhaustion requirement.

The rules of statutory constriction followed in the Indiana courts indicate that it would be improper to interpret I.C. § 20-8.1-5-14 as an administrative remedy applicable to I.C. § 20-8.1-9-10. Each of the sections appears in different chapters of the code. It appears from the entire context therefore that I.C. § 20-8.1-5-14 applies to specific situations involving school discipline and not situations such as aid for textbook fees where I.C. § 20-8.1-9-10 is found. Since the textbook fee statutes were enacted after the school discipline statutes, there is a strong presumption that the Indiana legislature enacted them with the school discipline statutes in mind. Further, since the legislature through the absence of wording in the statutes and the legislative history made no reference to the prior statute, it is unclear at best whether the legislature intended to make the school discipline statute of I.C. § 20-8.1-5-14 apply to school fee situations mentioned in I.C. § 20-8.1-9-10. Construing the school discipline statute to be applicable to the school fee statute will produce illogical results, an outcome disfavored by Indiana courts. This Court will not impose an exhaustion requirement on the plaintiffs in this case since it is not clear that an exhaustion requirement exists under Indiana law.

It would be wrong to apply I.C. § 20-8.1-5-14 to I.C. § 20-8.1-9-10 since they appear in different chapters of title 20 and cover different problems in the administration of schools. The title of an enactment must be considered in order to determine the applicability of the enactment. Bender v. State ex rel. Wareham, Ind., 388 N.E.2d 578 (1979). The procedural statute, I.C. § 20-8.1-5-14 is found in the chapter of the code entitled "Due Process and School Discipline" whereas I.C. § 20-8.1-9-10, the section covering action to collect unpaid fees is found in the chapter entitled "Financial Assistance for School Children." If the Indiana legislature had intended for children to use the procedural statute as a remedy when they are denied access to school because of unpaid book fees, it would logically have included the section in the chapter dealing with school discipline and procedure. The statute prohibiting the denial of any privilege for non-payment of fees makes no reference to the other section as a remedy and it is placed in a chapter where the only procedure is a procedure imposed on the schools to provide financial assistance to children. Since the statutory remedy of I.C. § 20-8.1-5-14 is placed within a section of the code dealing with the specific problem of school discipline and is not intended to cover every problem of school administration; application of the statute to the unrelated situation of non-payment of textbook fees would be improper. See, Fort Wayne Transit, Inc. v. Indiana Motor Bus Co., 158 Ind.App. 290, 302 N.E.2d 786 (1973), reh. den., 158 Ind. 290, 304 N.E.2d 336.

Application of the school discipline procedural remedy found in I.C. § 20-8.1-5-14 as an exhaustion requirement to the situation of a denial of access to school for non-payment of textbook fees, an act clearly prohibited by I.C. § 20-8.1-9-10, would be clearly improper because the application would produce illogical results. The language of I.C. § 20-8.1-9-10 clearly prohibits any school from denying access to children because of the non-payment of textbook fees. The language of I.C. § 20-8.1-5-14 is broad in that it refers to a denial of virtually any right guaranteed by the state of Indiana or the Constitution of the United States, construction of the statute in such broad terms to cover the situation before this Court produces unreasonable results. The specific statute involving school discipline gives the school corporation the right to delay final action on a matter until 30 to 45 days after the initial suspension of a student from school. To allow a school corporation to use this statute as a defense every time it commits an act such as the denial of access for failure to pay textbook fees would be to thwart the purpose of the prohibitory section involving actions to collect fees. It is illogical therefore to conclude that the Indiana legislature passed an act prohibiting the conduct mentioned in plaintiffs' complaint and intended for a school corporation covered by the act to avoid compliance with the act by use of an unrelated statute. If a statute is open to two interpretations, the presumption is that the legislature intended the more reasonable of the two, for a legislature cannot be presumed to have expected that a statute be applied in an illogical manner. In Re Marriage of Lopp, 268 Ind. 690, 378 N.E.2d 414, cert. den., Lopp v. Lopp, 439 U.S. 1116, 99 S.Ct. 1023, 59 L.Ed.2d 76 (1978). To give full effect therefore to I.C. § 20-8.1-5-14 and I.C. § 20-8.1-9-10, the former section dealing with school discipline must be narrowly construed to deal with circumstances pertaining to the discipline of students and not the fact situation before this Court. A broader construction of I.C. § 20-8.1-5-14 as an exhaustion requirement would extend the purpose of the statute beyond that which was intended by the Indiana legislature.

Assuming, arguendo, that one could fairly construe the statute cited by the defendants to impose a procedure which must be exhausted before suit can be filed, the cases cited by the defendants in support of their contention involving exhaustion of administrative remedies do not apply to the fact situation before this Court. All four of the cases dealt with issues and facts which were substantially different than the facts and issues raised in this case. In Anderson v. Thompson, 658 F.2d 1205 (7th Cir.1981), the issues revolved around a private right of action given by a federal statute instead of a case involving constitutional rights. The other three cases involved a challenge of procedural due process used in disciplinary actions taken by a school. The case before this Court challenges the constitutionality of the procedure and the action itself taken by the school in denying access or threatening a denial of access to children for failure of parents to pay textbook fees.

Anderson, supra, simply does not address the issues raised by the defendants.

The primary issue in Anderson was the availability of attorney fees under § 1988 when the sole basis of plaintiffs' complaint was a federal statute, not the violation of a constitutional right. The case does not stand for a principle concerning exhaustion of administrative remedies. The case before this Court is based upon the violation of constitutional rights which exist in spite of the existence or non-existence of the state statute. If the plaintiffs added state claims based on a state statute to the viable...