Debauche v. Trani
| Decision Date | 03 March 1999 |
| Docket Number | 98-2517,Nos. 98-1658,s. 98-1658 |
| Citation | 191 F.3d 499 |
| Parties | (4th Cir. 1999) SUE HARRIS DEBAUCHE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. EUGENE TRANI; LAWRENCE DOUGLAS WILDER; CLEAR CHANNEL RADIO, INCORPORATED, t/a WRVA, a Nevada Corporation; CENTRAL VIRGINIA EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION, t/a WNVT, Defendants-Appellees, And VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY, Defendant. ACLU FOUNDATION OF VIRGINIA, Amicus Curiae. SUE HARRIS DEBAUCHE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. LAWRENCE DOUGLAS WILDER; CLEAR CHANNEL RADIO, INCORPORATED, t/a WRVA, a Nevada Corporation; CENTRAL VIRGINIA EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION, t/a WNVT, Defendants-Appellees, and VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY; EUGENE TRANI, Defendants. ACLU FOUNDATION OF VIRGINIA, Amicus Curiae. Argued: |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
COUNSEL ARGUED: James Jeffrey Knicely, KNICELY & COTORCEANU, P.C., Williamsburg, Virginia, for Appellant. Alison Paige Landry, Assistant Attorney General, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, Richmond, Virginia; John Samuel Martin, HUNTON & WILLIAMS, Richmond, Virginia; Andrew Gray Mauck, MAYS & VALENTINE, L.L.P., Richmond, Virginia; Lawrence Douglas Wilder, Jr., WILDER & GREGORY, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Thomas Stephen Neuberger, THOMAS S. NEUBERGER, P.A., Wilmington, Delaware; John W. Whitehead, Stephen H. Aden, THE RUTHERFORD INSTITUTE, Charlottesville, Virginia, for Appellant. Mark L. Earley, Attorney General of Virginia, Ashley L. Taylor, Jr., Deputy Attorney General, Ronald C. Forehand, Senior Assistant Attorney General, William E. Thro, Assistant Attorney General, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellant Trani. R. Hewitt Pate, HUNTON & WILLIAMS, Richmond, Virginia; Robert L. Brooke, MAYS & VALENTINE, L.L.P., Richmond, Virginia, for Appellees WNVT and WRVA. Roger L. Gregory, Laura M. Hillenbrand, WILDER & GREGORY, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellee Wilder. Randal M. Shaheen, Christopher F. Winters, ARNOLD & PORTER, Washington, D.C., for Amicus Curiae.
Before WIDENER, NIEMEYER, and KING, Circuit Judges.
During the 1997 gubernatorial election campaign in Virginia, L. Douglas Wilder, a radio talk show host with radio station WRVA and former governor of Virginia, organized a political debate between the Republican and Democratic candidates for governor at Virginia Commonwealth University ("VCU"). The debate, dubbed "Debate Virginia," was broadcast on radio station WRVA and on television station WNVT, as well as on other stations. Because she was not invited to participate, Sue Harris DeBauche, the Virginia Reform Party candidate for governor, filed this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that the defendants violated her constitutional rights to free speech and equal protection.
The district court dismissed DeBauche's action under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6) on various grounds as applicable to the several defendants, including sovereign immunity, qualified immunity, and the absence of "state action." The court also assessed a portion of defendants' attorneys fees and costs against both DeBauche and her attorneys based on the action's lack of merit.
For the reasons that follow, we affirm the district court's dismissal order but vacate the order shifting fees and costs for reconsideration in light of this opinion.
On October 15, 1997, a few weeks before the 1997 gubernatorial election in Virginia, DeBauche filed the complaint in this case under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that she had been excluded from Debate Virginia in violation of her rights under the First, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. She named as defendants: VCU, where the debate had occurred; its president, Eugene Trani, both individually and in his official capacity; and Douglas Wilder, who initiated the debate by inviting the Republican and Democratic candidates to a radio debate. DeBauche requested a declaratory judgment that her rights had been violated, injunctive relief, and compensatory and punitive damages in an unspecified amount. After VCU and Trani filed a motion to dismiss, DeBauche filed an amended complaint to modify some of the allegations and to add as defendants the owners of the radio station and the television station which sponsored the debate: Clear Channel Radio, Inc., the owner of radio station WRVA ("WRVA"), and Central Virginia Educational Telecommunications, Inc., the owner of television station WNVT ("WNVT").
In her amended complaint, DeBauche alleged that in April 1997, Wilder invited Republican gubernatorial nominee, James S. Gilmore, III, and Democratic nominee, Donald S. Beyer, Jr., to a radio debate in which each could address the issues of the campaign and his record. Several months later, in July 1997, Wilder confirmed in writing "that negotiations were concluded relative to Debate Virginia" and that it would be "jointly sponsored" by WRVA, WNVT, and VCU. The amended complaint alleges that VCU and Trani offered, and Wilder accepted, VCU as a place to hold the debate and that VCU and Trani contributed "VCU personnel, staff and other resources to plan, promote, manage and execute the debate." As DeBauche characterized the roles of the parties, Wilder "served as convener and moderator of Debate Virginia," and all of the other defendants "co-sponsored, planned, promoted, managed, executed, and paid" for it. The debate took place on October 6, 1997.
After arrangements for the debate had been completed and three weeks before the debate, DeBauche became "duly qualified" with the State Board of Elections as the Reform Party candidate for governor, having been selected at a meeting of the Virginia Reform Party State Central Committee on September 14, 1997. Between September 15 and October 6, DeBauche alleged that she and other Reform Party members placed telephone calls to Wilder at various telephone numbers and to Debate Virginia at its toll-free number for the purpose of having DeBauche included in the debate. DeBauche also sent e-mails to Debate Virginia's website for the same purpose. DeBauche alleged that she received no responses to her inquiries and that all efforts to participate were unsuccessful. Shortly after the debate, DeBauche "made a written demand to the defendants VCU and Trani that they schedule a gubernatorial debate including all three candidates before the November 4, 1997, election," but VCU and Trani rejected this demand on October 24, 1997.
DeBauche alleged that Debate Virginia constituted a designated public forum at which she was entitled under the First Amendment to appear and to express her views and the views of the Reform Party. To that end, she purported to bring the action not only on her own behalf but also on behalf of "the individual members of [the Virginia Reform Party] and on behalf of the Party." Alternatively, she alleged that even if the debate was a nonpublic forum, she and the Reform Party members were discriminated against "without a reasonable basis." Specifically, she claimed that "[b]ut for the actions of the defendants" in not including her in Debate Virginia, she would have received "at least 15% of the statewide vote in the [1997] election."
In an attempt to satisfy the requirements of 42 U.S.C. § 1983, DeBauche alleged that VCU and Trani were "state actors" and that Wilder, WRVA, and WNVT "may fairly be said to be state actors because they worked jointly on Debate Virginia with the defendants VCU and Trani." She alleged that because Wilder, WRVA, and WNVT "have jointly engaged with state officials in the challenged actions, . . . they [were] acting under color of law."
DeBauche requested relief including: (1) a declaratory judgment that the defendants' actions deprived DeBauche, the Party, and the Party's members of constitutional rights, (2) an injunction barring the defendants from excluding DeBauche and "any other future Party candidate" from any future debate, (3) compensatory and punitive damages, and (4) attorneys fees. In addition, DeBauche asked the court to "review and consider" the results of the 1997 gubernatorial election to determine whether other equitable relief was warranted, including "declaring that [DeBauche] would have received 15% of the statewide vote" and directing that the State Board of Elections be joined "to certify [Virginia Reform Party] candidates . . . to be placed on the ballot in the next Virginia gubernatorial election."
The district court granted the defendants' motions to dismiss the amended complaint on April 13, 1998, on various grounds. At the outset, the court rejected the defendants' contention that DeBauche's claims were moot because "[i]t is more than conceivable that DeBauche as a Reform Party candidate for a political office will be excluded from a [future] debate including only Democratic and Republican candidates and involving a state university." The court concluded, however, that DeBauche lacked standing to assert claims on behalf of the Reform Party. With respect to the claims against the state actors, VCU and Trani, the district court found that the claims were barred by the Eleventh Amendment. With respect to the claims against Trani in his individual capacity, the court found that DeBauche failed to allege sufficient state action and that Trani was entitled to qualified immunity. And finally, with respect to the private defendants, Wilder, WRVA, and WNVT, the court found that they were not state actors and that they were not sufficiently intertwined with state actors to make their conduct state action.
In a subsequent order, the district court also awarded defendants Wilder, WRVA, and WNVT attorneys fees and costs under 42 U.S.C. § 1988(b), in the amount of $48,477, concluding that DeBauche's claims against them were "without foundation" and "baseless and unreasonable." The...
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