Dimeo v. Griffin
| Decision Date | 08 February 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. 89-3025,89-3025 |
| Citation | 924 F.2d 664 |
| Parties | , 6 Indiv.Empl.Rts.Cas. 297 Vincent DIMEO, James Kinnard, William Knott, James Curran, and Melvin Holland, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Farrell J. GRIFFIN, in his official capacity as Chairman of the Illinois Racing Board, David L. Diana, Ray H. Garrison, Thomas J. Garvey, Ralph Gonzalez, Irwin Jann, Hubert F. Meese, Cecil J. Troy and Dan K. Webb, in their official capacities as members of the Illinois Racing Board, Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Steven R. Gilford, Scott J. Frankel, Mayer, Brown & Platt, Harvey M. Grossman, Alan K. Chen, Roger Baldwin Foundation, Chicago, Ill., for plaintiffs-appellees.
Thomas A. Ioppolo, Asst. Atty. Gen., Chicago, Ill., for defendants-appellants.
Before WOOD, Jr., POSNER, and FLAUM, Circuit Judges.
It has long been labeled the sport of kings, but in this country some have come to regard it as the king of sports. 1 Horse racing is now big business in which the state takes considerable interest. Not all involved are in it because of a love of horses. There have been problems generated because of the large sums of money involved in horse race gambling. Cheating and fixing followed gambling. It was not until in the 1960s that a drug problem began to come into prominence. In 1968 the winner of the Kentucky Derby was disqualified after a postrace urine test of the horse, not the jockey, revealed the illegal use of a drug. Now the Illinois Racing Board ("Board"), which closely regulates horse racing on nine tracks, has perceived a new problem, the possible use and abuse of certain substances by the people directly involved in racing licensed as jockeys, drivers, outriders, parade marshals, starters, and assistant starters. The Board believes that drug use risks the safety of the people involved, impairs the state's financial interest in gambling proceeds, and causes the public to doubt the integrity of racing. Several members of the Jockeys' Guild ("Guild") in 1984 asked for Board assistance with the potential drug problem. Representatives of the Illinois Harness Horseman's Association were also consulted by the Board. The Board subsequently developed its own war on drugs by adopting a comprehensive drug rule which is now at issue.
The Board's antidrug program offended plaintiffs, Board-approved licensees, who brought this class action in behalf of themselves and other similar licensees, claiming that the urine-testing rule of the Board violated the fourth amendment's prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures. Judge Shadur agreed and preliminarily enjoined the Board from enforcing its random urine testing. Judge Shadur also preliminarily enjoined the Board from conducting mandatory urine tests of the plaintiff class without specific articulable facts that meet an objective standard of reasonable cause for believing such individual is under the influence of or has used a controlled substance on the grounds of a race track. This latter injunctive requirement largely tracked the regulations to ensure that the standards would be followed and not based on mere "hunch" as plaintiffs feared. Further defendants were enjoined from initially conditioning licensing upon submission to the urine tests prohibited in the preliminary injunction. As laudable as the motivation and intentions of the Board may be in the war on drugs, they are not enough to make up for the constitutional shortcomings of the Board rule. We agree with Judge Shadur, 721 F.Supp. 958, and affirm.
Horse racing is one of the most ancient of sports. It is believed that chariots drawn by a four-horse team raced in the Olympic games of 700-40 B.C. Riders on single mounts also competed. 2 The chariot drivers were the forerunners of today's harness drivers who now compete in lightweight sulkies drawn by standardbred horses. 3 The Olympic bareback riders were the forerunners of today's jockeys now mounted on the backs of thoroughbreds competing at the run, a faster speed than the harness horse attains at a pace or a trot. 4 In the reign of Richard the Lion-Hearted in England between 1189 and 1199, the first racing purse was offered. The first horse-racing trophy on this side of the Atlantic, however, was not awarded until 1665 in the colony of New York.
Although horse racing probably came to North America when Cortez invaded Mexico in 1519, 5 the advent of harness racing in this country came later. Beginning with neighbors racing four-wheel buggies on local roads, harness racing developed in the 1800s into the use of the light, two-wheeled sulkies on race tracks. The origin of this type of harness racing with the use of the distinct standardbred horse is an American creation. Although related, the thoroughbred and the standardbred horses are recognized as distinct breeds.
Plaintiffs' contributions to modern horse racing under their respective licenses must be understood. Jockeys riding thoroughbreds and drivers in sulkies behind standardbred harness horses are recognized, but the duties of the other licensees are less understood.
The outrider in thoroughbred racing is mounted and leads the horses from the paddock area, past the reviewing stands, and into the starting gate area for each race. The outrider makes sure the horses are led out in an orderly fashion without incident. If a horse throws its rider, as sometimes happens, and is running loose, the outrider is responsible for retrieving the horse. The term starting gate does not give an adequate picture of the structure used for starting a thoroughbred race. It is not one large gate stretching across the track. It is more like a series of connected, narrow short stalls, not much bigger than the horse which is led into it. When the horses are all in the gate and ready the electronically controlled door on each individual stall at the command of the starter opens simultaneously, and the race is on.
The parade marshal in harness racing performs much the same duties as the outrider in leading the horses to the starting positions, but the start of a harness race obviously cannot be done by the use of the stationary thoroughbred starting gate. A harness race is begun by the use of a moving pace car with retractable bars extending sideways from the back of the car. The starter rides elevated in the rear of the pace car facing backwards where he can observe the moving horses. The harness horses stride into place side-by-side behind the moving pace car and its extended bars. When moving at the proper gait and under control, the pace car barriers are retracted along the side of the car by the starter and the pace car speeds out of the way to permit the horses to move out in competition.
In a thoroughbred race there are a starter and assistant starters with coordinating but different duties. The starter is located just outside the infield rail and elevated where he can observe the horses in the starting gate. He is responsible for ensuring that the horses are properly loaded into their respective sections of the starting gate. He observes their behavior to determine when a fair start is possible. When the horses are all in proper position he releases the starting gate. The assistant starters, however, are afoot on the track with the responsibility of leading the individual horses into their respective gate sections and to help the jockeys maintain control. An assistant starter may enter into the gate and stand on a small side ledge where he can help make sure the horse is under control with head up and facing down the track. When the gate is opened the assistant starter lets go of the horse turning it loose to run, raising his own arms in the air. This shows there was no delay in a starter's release of a horse possibly causing an unfair start.
In many countries, attendance at horse racing is among the highest of any sport. 6 This popularity forecast the intervention of state governments to protect a source of state revenue from wagers on horse racing totalling above one billion dollars per year in Illinois, and to protect the integrity of horse racing. 7 So it is that the Board sought to do its duty under its broad legislative mandate, the Illinois Horse Racing Act of 1975 ("Act"), 8 to regulate and control horse racing. 9
The Act gives the Board discretion to issue occupational licenses to persons working on Illinois race track grounds privately owned by race track organizations. Licenses may be refused for a variety of things, from criminal convictions to a violation of the rules and regulations of the Board. 10 So also may a license be suspended or revoked by the Board for just cause, including for violation of any Board rule or regulation.
The attendant power is given to the Board to promulgate reasonable rules and regulations for the purpose of administering the Act and to prescribe reasonable rules and regulations under which Illinois horse race meetings are conducted. It is further statutorily provided that this rule-making power includes the general power to adopt rules and regulations to prevent practices determined to be detrimental to the public interest, to provide for the best interests of horse racing, and to impose penalties for violations. 11 Civil penalties may range up to $5000 against individuals and up to $10,000 against organizations. 12 The Board's statutory power also includes the power to eject and exclude from the race grounds any licensee whose conduct or reputation is such that his presence may, in the opinion of the Board, call into question the honesty and integrity of horse racing or interfere with the orderly conduct of horse racing. 13 There can be no doubt that Illinois horse racing is a highly regulated business in all respects, both for...
To continue reading
Request your trial
- Tyler v. Bethlehem Steel Corp.
-
Dimeo v. Griffin
...A panel of this court, by a divided vote, affirmed the district court, agreeing that the rule violated the Fourth Amendment. 924 F.2d 664 (7th Cir.1991). We granted rehearing en banc to enable the full court to consider the unclear, delicate, and important question of where the Fourth Amend......
-
Craft v. Pace of South Holland, 87 C 3569.
...did not permit definition with particularity of all jail personnel who were exposed to inmates on a regular basis. In Dimeo v. Griffin, 924 F.2d 664 (7th Cir.1991), the Seventh Circuit upheld the district court's preliminary injunction enjoining the Illinois Racing Board from enforcing its ......
- DeCastecker v. Case Corp., 94-4089.