Crowder v. Kitagawa
| Citation | 842 F. Supp. 1257 |
| Decision Date | 01 February 1994 |
| Docket Number | Civ. No. 93-00213 DAE. |
| Parties | Vernon CROWDER and Stephanie Good, Plaintiffs, v. Yukio KITAGAWA, Chairman, Board of Agriculture, State of Hawaii; Calvin Lum, Administrator, Department of Agriculture, State of Hawaii; Department of Agriculture, State of Hawaii; State of Hawaii; John Does 1 Through 10, inclusive, and Doe Government Agencies 1 Through 10, inclusive, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Hawaii |
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
Michael A. Lilly, Ning Lilly & Jones, Honolulu, HI, for plaintiffs.
Sonia Faust, Heidi M. Rian, Robert A. Marks, Kathleen S.Y. Ho, Office of the Attorney General-State of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, for defendants.
ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT
The court heard defendants' motion on January 24, 1994. Michael A. Lilly, Esq. appeared on behalf of plaintiffs; Deputy Attorney General Heidi M. Rian appeared on behalf of defendants. After reviewing the motion and the supporting and opposing memoranda, and hearing oral argument from counsel, the court GRANTS defendants' motion for summary judgment.
This is a class action, brought on behalf of a class of Hawaii resident guide dog owners and another class of non-resident guide dog owners, that seeks to establish an exemption for guide dogs from Hawaii's animal quarantine laws which require the 120-day quarantine of animals coming into the state from rabies-endemic areas. The quarantine was established to prevent the spread of rabies to Hawaii, which remains one of the few places in the world that are free from that disease. Plaintiffs Crowder and Good, who are both blind, assert that their travel to and from Hawaii has been restricted because of Hawaii's quarantine. They claim that the quarantine law violates the class members' constitutional rights to equal protection, to substantive due process, and to travel under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, and that the law also violates the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"). The plaintiffs propose that, for their dogs at least, the quarantine period should be replaced with vaccinations and with tests to measure antibody levels in their dogs' blood.
Defendants argue that Hawaii has an extremely strong interest in remaining rabies-free, and that, pursuant to its police powers and obligation to protect the health and safety of its citizens, the state has applied its quarantine laws evenhandedly to all entering dogs, cats, and other carnivores, regardless of who the owners may be. Further, defendants argue that the Hawaii legislature has already considered and rejected plaintiffs' proposed alternatives to the quarantine, and that this court should defer to that body's findings. Accordingly, defendants request that this court grant summary judgment in their favor.
Rule 56(c) provides that summary judgment shall be entered when:
The 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. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986) (citing Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970)). The evidence and inferences therefrom must be viewed in the light most favorable to the party opposing summary judgment. 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. Id. at 322, 106 S.Ct. at 2552.
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. 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, 1355-56, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986) (citation omitted).
At the summary judgment stage, this court may not make credibility determinations or weigh conflicting evidence. 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: does the evidence present a sufficient disagreement to require submission to a jury or is it so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law. Id. (citation omitted).
The Department of Agriculture of the State of Hawaii is granted authority to establish rules for the quarantine of animals by Section 142-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes.
Haw.Rev.Stat. § 142-2 provides, in relevant part:
Subject to chapter 91 the department of agriculture may make and amend rules for the inspection, quarantine, disinfection, or destruction, either upon introduction into the state or at any time or place within the State, of animals and the premises and effects used in connection with the animals....
Pursuant to this section, the department has promulgated rules for dealing with animal diseases and quarantine. Section 4-29-9 of the Hawaii Administrative Rules establishes a 120-day quarantine in a quarantine station for dogs, cats, and other carnivores entering Hawaii from the United States mainland or from any other country that has not been designated by the Board of Agriculture as rabies-free. The purpose of the rule is to "prevent the introduction of rabies." Haw.Admin.R. § 4-29-9(a).
Under Haw.Admin.R. §§ 4-29-9 and 4-29-10, the only animals completely exempted from the 120-day quarantine requirement are those coming from designated rabies-free areas by means of transport meeting certain stringent requirements. While the rules do not exempt guide dogs, they do make some accommodation for guide dogs and their owners. For example, Haw.Admin.R. § 4-29-15(a) provides that any disabled person seeking to import a certified guide dog may, upon written request, be housed at no charge in an apartment at the quarantine station during the period of the dog's confinement. The rules also provide that, after an initial ten-day observation period, the guide dog may train freely on station grounds with its owner. See Haw.Admin.R. §§ 4-29-15(b)(1)-(2). The guide dog may also train with its owner off the station grounds for up to four hours a day, three days a week, in the company of a department inspector. See Haw.Admin.R. § 4-29-15(b)(3). During such off-station training sessions, however, the guide dog may have no contact with other animals or humans. See Haw.Admin.R. § 4-29-15(b)(5).
Plaintiffs argue that the 120-day quarantine as applied to guide dogs is unconstitutional in that it infringes upon their right to travel, their right to equal protection, and their right to fundamental due process. Plaintiffs also contend that the quarantine discriminates against persons with disabilities in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101 et seq. ("ADA").
Defendants argue that Hawaii has the authority, under its police powers, to impose a reasonable quarantine on incoming animals to preserve the health and safety of its populace and animals. The United States Supreme Court has held that protection of health and safety is one of the traditional functions of the police power, and that courts should leave to legislatures the means by which it is implemented. See Queenside Hills Realty Co., Inc. v. Saxl, 328 U.S. 80, 82-83, 66 S.Ct. 850, 851-52, 90 L.Ed. 1096 (1946). In Queenside, the Court upheld new statutory requirements for sprinkler systems in lodging houses, despite a lodging house owner's objection that the requirements violated both the equal protection and due process clauses of the fourteenth amendment. Regarding the due process argument, the Court stated:
We are not concerned with the wisdom of this legislation or the need for it. Protection of the safety of persons is one of the traditional uses of the police power of the States. Experts may differ as to the most appropriate way of dealing with fire hazards in lodging houses.... But the legislature may choose not to take the chance that human life will be lost in lodging house fires and adopt the most conservative course which science and engineering offer. It is for the legislature to decide what regulations are needed to reduce fire hazards to the minimum.
Id. (citation omitted).
Subsequently in Goldblatt v. Hempstead, 369 U.S. 590, 82 S.Ct. 987, 8 L.Ed.2d 130 (1962), the United States Supreme Court considered whether the enactment of an ordinance regulating dredging and pit excavating on property within the Town of Hempstead was a proper exercise of the town's police powers. The plaintiff in that case engaged in such operations prior to the enactment of the ordinance and claimed that it prevented plaintiff from continuing business which resulted in the taking of property without due process of law. The trial court held that the ordinance was a valid exercise of the town's police power, and the New York Court of Appeals affirmed Id. at 590-91, 82 S.Ct. at 987-98. The Court, in affirming the decision of the lower court, stated:
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...See, e.q., 42 U.S.C. § 1231; Dahlberg v. Avis Rent A Car System, Inc., 92 F.Supp.2d 1091, 1099 (D.Colo.2000); Crowder v. Kitagawa, 842 F.Supp. 1257, 1267 (D.Hawai'i 1994). ...
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