CORPUS CHRISTI, ETC. v. Tex. Dept. of Human Resources

• Citation: 481 F. Supp. 1101
• Decision Date: 11 December 1979
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. L-79-65.
• Parties: The CORPUS CHRISTI PEOPLES' BAPTIST CHURCH, INC. et al., Plaintiffs, v. TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Texas

481 F. Supp. 1101

The CORPUS CHRISTI PEOPLES' BAPTIST CHURCH, INC. et al., Plaintiffs, v. TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES et al., Defendants.

Civ. A. No. L-79-65.

United States District Court, S. D. of Texas, Laredo Division.

November 21, 1979.

On Motion for Reconsideration and Injunction December 11, 1979.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

William Bentley Ball, Ball & Skelly, Harrisburg, Pa., Ann E. Coover, Corpus Christi, Tex., for plaintiffs.

David H. Young, Austin, Tex., for defendants.

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

KAZEN, District Judge.

As will be more fully detailed below, the instant suit was originally filed asking this Court to declare unconstitutional a state statute and to enjoin the attempted enforcement of same. Shortly after this suit was filed, the State of Texas sued some of the federal plaintiffs in state district court seeking to enforce the precise state statute in question. This prompted the Plaintiffs to counter with a Motion for Preliminary Injunction, asking the Court to restrain the State of Texas from prosecuting the state case. A hearing was held on November 2, 1979, at which time the Court considered written and oral arguments on the legal issues involved and also heard sworn testimony from the Plaintiffs on the merits of their constitutional claim. These Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law are prepared pursuant to Rule 52, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Plaintiffs bring this action under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985, to enjoin the enforcement of the Human Resources Code, Chapter 842, ch. 42, 1979 Tex. Sess. Law Serv. (the Licensing Act) on the grounds that the Act is unconstitutional as applied to them.

2. Plaintiffs allege that the enforcement of the Act is violative of their rights protected by the First, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments.

3. The Plaintiffs are the Corpus Christi Peoples' Baptist Church, Inc. ("the Church"), certain staff members employed by the Church at child-care homes which it owns and operates, certain children presently residing in the homes, and certain parents of children residing in the homes, all of whom allege that their individual constitutional rights will be violated by the enforcement of the act. The two homes in question here are the Rebekah Home for Girls in Corpus Christi, Texas, and the Anchor Home for Boys in Zapata, Texas.

4. The Defendants are the Texas Department of Human Resources, charged with the responsibility for licensing and regulating child-care facilities, its Chairman of the Board, other members of the Board, the Commissioner of the Department, the Director of Institutional Licensing, the Governor of Texas, the Attorney General of the State, and the Secretary of State.

5. There has been prior litigation involving several of these parties in a somewhat related context. In 1976, the State of Texas, in Cause No. 248,199 before the 126th Judicial District Court, Travis County, Texas, filed suit to enforce the Licensing Act's predecessor, Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 695a-3 (Vernon Supp.1976). At that time, the same homes in question here were owned and being operated by Roloff Evangelistic Enterprises, Inc. ("Enterprises"). The district court enjoined Enterprises from operating the homes without a license. The Texas Court of Civil Appeals affirmed the lower court's ruling. Roloff Evangelistic Enterprises, Inc. v. The State of Texas, 556 S.W.2d 856 (Tex.Civ.App.—Austin, 1977, writ ref'd n. r. e.). The Supreme Court of Texas refused appellant's writ of error, finding no reversible error. Enterprises then appealed to the United States Supreme Court which dismissed the cause for want of a substantial federal question. 439 U.S. 803, 99 S.Ct. 58, 58 L.Ed.2d 96 (1978).

6. On June 11, 1979, a suit was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Corpus Christi Division, seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent the closing of the child-care homes in question. The suit, Cause No. C-79-78, was filed by two sets of parents of minor children (one set being Ralph Peters and wife, Jacqueline Peters, who are also plaintiffs in the present suit) as well as the Peoples' Church (unincorporated predecessor of the Church in the present case), claiming essentially that if the child-care facilities in question were closed as a result of the litigation successfully concluded against Enterprises, their own individual constitutional rights, particularly First Amendment rights, would be violated. By order dated June 13, 1979, the Hon. Owen D. Cox dismissed the case, holding that he should not interfere with any state court proceedings relative to the basic issues raised before him. The record in the present case contains no evidence as to exactly what state court proceedings were in progress at that time but apparently the same or similar plaintiffs as in C-79-78, supra, had sought a state court injunction to prevent the closing of the homes on grounds similar to those set forth in C-79-78. At any rate, the order of Judge Cox was appealed and was heard by Hon. Thomas Gibbs Gee of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on June 19, 1979. Judge Gee entered an order after hearing oral argument in chambers and declined to exercise "whatever powers are vested in me in connection with this Motion", citing Moore v. Sims, 442 U.S. 415, 99 S.Ct. 2371, 60 L.Ed.2d 994, (1979). The order was without prejudice to any further proceedings before the entire Court of Appeals. Apparently, those plaintiffs made no further effort to go before the Fifth Circuit. Instead, the same plaintiffs filed a new suit in United States District Court in Corpus Christi, Cause No. C-79-81, reurging their cause before Judge Cox, contending that they had now exhausted their state remedies and therefore, federal litigation would be appropriate. By order dated June 20, 1979, Judge Cox dismissed the complaint on the grounds that plaintiffs had failed to allege a substantial federal question, citing Roloff Evangelistic Enterprises, Inc. v. The State of Texas, supra, Finding No. 5.

7. Meanwhile, in between the two filings in federal court in Corpus Christi, Texas, Ralph and Jacqueline Peters, the Peoples' Church and Harmon Oxford, the alleged child-care supervisor at the Anchor Home for Boys in Zapata, filed suit in this Court, asserting essentially the identical claims set forth in the Corpus Christi case. The case before this Court was Cause No. L-79-37. (As a matter of venue, the Rebekah Home for Girls is physically located in the Corpus Christi Division of the Southern District of Texas while the Anchor Home for Boys in Zapata, Texas is located in the Laredo Division). This Court declined to issue a temporary restraining order without notice because of the pending state court case, the same proceeding which had caused Judge Cox to stay his hand earlier that week. Later, on August 16, 1979, this Court granted without opposition, a motion to dismiss filed by the Texas Department of Human Resources on the basis that the Anchor Home had since been closed and therefore the issue was moot and also because of res judicata, citing the Roloff Evangelistic Enterprises, Inc. case. (See Finding No. 5).

8. The present suit was filed by the Plaintiffs on October 5, 1979. The State of Texas, on October 11, 1979, filed suit in 200th Judicial District Court, Travis County, Texas, in Cause No. 297,248, seeking to enforce the requirements of the Licensing Act. Included among the defendants in the state case are Enterprises and the Church. The suit is presently pending. In its original petition, the State labels the suit as a "successor" to Cause No. 248,199. (See Finding No. 5).

9. On October 15, 1979, the Plaintiffs filed in this Court their Motion for Preliminary Injunction to enjoin that state court proceeding.

10. By way of factual background, Lester Roloff founded the Roloff Evangelistic Enterprises organization in 1951. The Peoples' Church was founded by Roloff in 1969 as an unincorporated religious society. On August 29, 1979, it was incorporated as the Corpus Christi Peoples' Baptist Church, Inc. The Rebekah Home for Girls in Corpus Christi, Texas, and the Anchor Home for Boys in Zapata, Texas, both came into being in 1967. On or about September 13, 1979, title to these homes was transferred from Roloff Evangelistic Enterprises to the Corpus Christi Peoples' Baptist Church, Inc. Roloff Evangelistic Enterprises and the Corpus Christi Peoples' Baptist Church are both non-profit religious organizations and have separate trustees. Lester Roloff is the pastor of the Church and the President of Enterprises.

11. The Church is presently the owner of all the assets, real and personal, of the Rebekah Home for Girls and the Anchor Home for Boys.

12. The Defendants contend that the Rebekah Home for Girls and the Anchor Home for Boys, being child-care facilities, cannot operate without a state-issued license.

13. The Church contends that because religion is so pervasive in the handling of the children at its homes, it is impossible to operate under state license. The contention is that licensing requirements directly conflict with the religious dictates of the Church, not only as a general principle but also in several particular applications.

14. There is no reason to doubt that the Peoples' Church is a validly established church and there is no contrary contention by the State.

15. Additionally, there is no evidence of child abuse by the homes' employees. The State does not even contend that the children have been abused in the Church's homes. Indeed, the evidence shows that the corrective measures employed by the homes have met with some degree of success.

16. Although the Church contends that licensing under the Human Resources Code is, per se, a violation of its free exercise rights, it has no objection to sanitation and fire inspections. In fact, the evidence shows that the Church and its homes have received Health...