Carroll v. Nakatani

• Decision Date: 12 July 2001
• Docket Number: No. 00-CV-645.,No. 00-CV-641.,00-CV-641.,00-CV-645.
• Citation: 188 F.Supp.2d 1219
• Parties: John CARROLL, Plaintiff, v. James NAKATANI, in his capacity as Chairperson/Director of the State of Hawaii Department of Agriculture, et al., Defendants. Patrick Barrett, Plaintiff, v. State of Hawaii, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Hawaii

188 F.Supp.2d 1219

John CARROLL, Plaintiff, v. James NAKATANI, in his capacity as Chairperson/Director of the State of Hawaii Department of Agriculture, et al., Defendants.

Patrick Barrett, Plaintiff, v. State of Hawaii, et al., Defendants.

No. 00-CV-641.

No. 00-CV-645.

United States District Court, D. Hawai`i.

July 12, 2001.

Paul D. Hicks, The Law Office of Richard Lee, Honolulu, HI, for John Carroll in CV No. 00-00641.

Girard D. Lau, Office of the Attorney General-Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, for James J. Nakatani, Paul G. Lamahieu, Timothy E. Johns, Seiji Naya, Kazu Hayashida, Raymond Sato in CV No. 00-00641.

Sherry P. Broder, Honolulu, HI, for Charles Ota, Colette Y. Machado, Nalani Olds, Nani Brandt, Clayton Hee, Gladys Brandt, Dante Carpenter, Beniamina Ilei, Hannah Springer in CV No. 00-00641 and Philip W. Miyoshi, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, in CV No. 00-00645.

William S. Helfand, Alan N. Magenheim, Kevin D. Jewell, J. Preston Wrotenbery, Barbara E. Roberts, Magenheim Bateman

& Helfand P L L C, Houston, TX, Patrick W. Hanifin, Im Hannifin Parsons, John W. Goemans, Honolulu, HI, for Patrick Barrett, in CV No. 00-00645.

Girard D. Lau, Office of the Attorney General-Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, for State of Hawaii, Benjamin J. Cayetano, in CV No. 00-00645.

Arnold L. Lum, Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., Honolulu, HI, for `Ilio`ulakalani Colition, Inc, Victoria Holt-Takamine, Piilani Smith, Wayne Kaho`onei Panoke, Momi Kamahele, in CV No. 00-00645.

ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF BARRETT'S MOTION TO AMEND COMPLAINT; GRANTING DEFENDANT OHA'S MOTION FOR JUDGMENT ON THE PLEADINGS AGAINST PLAINTIFF BARRETT AND GRANTING DEFENDANT SCHHA, ET AL.'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AGAINST PLAINTIFF BARRETT

DAVID ALAN EZRA, Chief Judge.

The court heard the parties' Motions on July 2, 2001. Sherry Broder, Esq., appeared on behalf of Defendant OHA; Robert Klein, Esq., appeared on behalf of Defendant SCHHA and Anthony Sang, Jr.; Carl Christensen, Esq., appeared on behalf of Defendant `Ilio`ulaokalani Coalition, et al.; and Deputy Attorney General Girard D. Lau appeared on behalf of the State Defendants. William Helfand, Esq., and Patrick Hanifin, Esq., appeared on behalf of Plaintiff Barrett. After considering the Motions and the supporting and opposing memoranda, the court GRANTS Plaintiffs' Motion for Leave to File First Amended Complaint, but also GRANTS Defendants' Motions for Summary Judgment.

MOTION TO AMEND COMPLAINT

As a preliminary matter, the court takes up Plaintiff Barrett's Motion for Leave to File First Amended Complaint. Fed. R.Civ.P. 15(a) states that "leave shall be freely given when justice so requires." In this case, the proposed First Amended Complaint does not add any new parties or claims, but rather seeks to clarify Plaintiff's existing claims. After review, the court concludes that no prejudice will result from the amendment. Indeed, nearly all the Defendants (OHA, the State Defendants, `Ilio`ulaokalani Coalition, et al., and SCHHA) have filed Statements of No Position. The court therefore GRANTS Plaintiff's Motion.

DEFENDANTS' MOTIONS

I. BACKGROUND

At the outset, the court notes that the background as set out here relates only to Plaintiff Barrett and not to consolidated Plaintiff Carroll, as the instant motions were brought only in relation to the Barrett case.

On October 3, 2000, Plaintiff filed his original complaint in this court. In it (as clarified by his First Amended Complaint, which he has just been granted leave to file), he challenges the constitutionality of Article XII of the Hawaii State Constitution insofar as it creates the Hawaiian Homes Commission ("HHC") and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs ("OHA"), and establishes native Hawaiian gathering rights. See First Amended Complaint ("FAC") ¶ 2. Plaintiff challenges the Article on the grounds that it (and statutes implementing it) restricts the provision of benefits to only those classified as "native Hawaiians"¹ or "Hawaiians"² in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Id. He seeks a declaration from this court that he and those of all races are entitled to seek the Government rights and benefits created by Article XII.

On March 21, 2001, Defendant OHA filed a Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings, arguing that Plaintiff does not have standing to bring the action and that it is not ripe for adjudication. Generally, OHA argues that Plaintiff never formally applied for any of the benefits conferred by Article XII. He apparently made an initial application for a business-start-up loan from OHA, but OHA returned his application, saying he needed to provide additional information before it could be processed. Plaintiff never responded to this additional request for information. He never prepared a business plan.³ Defendant OHA therefore argues that because Plaintiff was not actually deprived of any OHA benefit for which he had formally applied, he has not suffered any "injury in fact" and lacks standing. Further, OHA argues that the case is not ripe because OHA should first have the chance to consider Plaintiff Barrett's complete application before a federal court steps in. Once that is done, the issues (if any remain) will be in clearer focus for the court to evaluate.

On March 23, 2001, Defendants `Ilio`ulaokalani Coalition,⁴ et al. joined in OHA's Motion, as did the State Defendants. On June 14, 2001, Plaintiff Barrett filed his Opposition, and on June 21, 2001, OHA filed its Reply, which was joined by the `Ilio`ulaokalani Coalition, et al. and the State Defendants.

On March 23, 2001, Defendants State Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations ("SCHHA") and Anthony Sang, Jr. filed a Motion for Summary Judgment, arguing that Plaintiff Barrett lacks standing to bring challenges to the HHC. Essentially, SCHHA argues that Plaintiff Barrett did not seek a Hawaiian homestead lease before filing his Complaint and therefore lacks standing.⁵ Further, it argues that Plaintiff's alleged injury is not redressable because the Hawaiian homestead lease program (as implemented by the HHC) is bound up with federal law, which is not being challenged here. On March 28, 2001, Defendants `Ilio`ulaokalani Coalition, et al. joined in SCHHA's Motion. On June 14, 2001, Plaintiff Barrett filed his Opposition, and on June 21, 2001, SCHHA filed its Reply, which was joined by the `Ilio`ulaokalani Coalition, et al. and the State Defendants.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Rule 56(c) provides that summary judgment shall be entered when:

[T]he pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). The moving party has the initial burden of demonstrating for the court that there is no genuine issue of material fact. See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2553, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). Courts must view the evidence and make any inferences in the light most favorable to the party opposing summary judgment. See Diaz v. American Telephone & Telegraph, 752 F.2d 1356, 1362 (9th Cir.1985). However, the moving party need not produce evidence negating the existence of an element for which the opposing party will bear the burden of proof at trial. See Celotex, 477 U.S. at 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548.

Once the movant has met its burden, the opposing party has the affirmative burden of coming forward with specific facts evidencing a need for trial. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e). The opposing party cannot stand on its pleadings, nor simply assert that it will be able to discredit the movant's evidence at trial. See T.W. Elec. Serv., Inc. v. Pacific Elec. Contractors Ass'n, 809 F.2d 626, 630 (9th Cir.1987); Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e). There is no genuine issue of fact "where the record taken as a whole could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the nonmoving party." Matsushita Electric Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586-87, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986) (citation omitted).

At the summary judgment stage, this court may not make credibility determinations or weigh conflicting evidence. See Musick v. Burke, 913 F.2d 1390, 1394 (9th Cir.1990). The standard for determining a motion for summary judgment is the same standard used to determine a motion for directed verdict: the evidence either presents a sufficient disagreement to require submission to a jury or is so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law. See id. (citing Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, 477 U.S. 242, 251-52, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2512, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986)).

Where the summary judgment motion is based on standing, however, the plaintiff must make "a factual showing of perceptible harm." Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 566, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992); see also Deck v. American Hawaii Cruises, Inc., 121 F.Supp.2d 1292, 1299 (D.Haw.2000) (stating that even on summary judgment motion plaintiff bears burden of demonstrating standing "by specific evidentiary facts and not by mere allegations."). In a challenge to standing, the party seeking to invoke federal jurisdiction bears the burden of showing that jurisdiction is proper, even if it is the non-moving party. See Unigard Ins. Co. v. Dept. of Treasury, 997 F.Supp. 1339, 1341 (S.D.Cal.1997) (citing Thornhill Publishing Co. v. Gen. Tel. & Electronics Corp., 594 F.2d 730 (9th Cir. 1979)).

Although OHA's Motion is styled as one for "Judgment on the Pleadings," pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(c), the court construes it as one for summary judgment because it relies on evidence (depositions, etc.) outside the pleadings. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(c) (noting that to the extent that "matters outside the pleadings are presented to and not excluded by the court, the motion shall be treated as one for summary judgment"). SCHHA's...