Dimond v. District of Columbia

• Decision Date: 07 December 1984
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 83-1938.
• Parties: Eileen DIMOND, et al., Plaintiffs, v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

618 F. Supp. 519

Eileen DIMOND, et al., Plaintiffs, v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, et al., Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 83-1938.

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

December 7, 1984.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

John P. Coale, Washington, D.C., for plaintiffs.

Frederic W. Schwartz, Jr., Washington, D.C., for plaintiff Thomas Harley.

Judith W. Rogers, John H. Suda, William J. Earl, Beverly J. Burke, Corp. Counsel, Washington, D.C., for Dist. of Col., Marion Barry, Mayor of Dist. of Col., Margurite C. Stokes, Act., Supt. of Ins., John Touchstone, Act. Dir., D.C., Dept. of Transp., and Maurice Turner, Chief, Metro. Police Dept.

MEMORANDUM

GASCH, District Judge.

This is an action challenging the District of Columbia Compulsory/No-Fault Motor Vehicle Insurance Act of 1982, D.C. Law 4-155, D.C.Code § 35-2101 et seq. (1984 Supp.) (Insurance Act). The plaintiffs include both residents and nonresidents of the District of Columbia. The defendants are the District of Columbia and individual officials of the District of Columbia Government.

Plaintiffs assert that the Insurance Act violates the District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act (Self-Government Act), D.C.Code 1-201 et seq., and the United States Constitution. Specifically, they urge the Court to declare the Insurance Act unconstitutional because it violates due process and equal protection rights protected by the fifth amendment, impermissibly burdens interstate commerce, and interferes with plaintiffs' rights to contract, to travel and to petition the government.¹ Defendants have moved to dismiss plaintiffs' second amended complaint or in the alternative for summary judgment. Plaintiffs also have filed for summary judgment.

For the reasons set forth below, the Court grants defendants' motion to dismiss many of plaintiffs' claims for lack of standing and grants defendants' motion for summary judgment as to the constitutionality of the compulsory insurance requirements of the Insurance Act (Sections 4(a), 4(b)(1), and 7(c), D.C.Code §§ 35-2103(a), 35-2103(b)(1), 35-2106(c)). The Court further holds that plaintiff Harley is entitled to summary judgment as to the Insurance Act's provision barring recovery for noneconomic loss unless medical expenses exceed $5,000 (Section 6(b)(6), D.C.Code § 35-2105(b)(6)).

DISCUSSION

A. Standing

The threshold issue is whether any of the plaintiffs has standing to challenge the Insurance Act in federal court. The Supreme Court recently summarized the constitutional requirements for standing in Valley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Inc., 454 U.S. 464, 102 S.Ct. 752, 70 L.Ed.2d 700 (1982):

Art. III requires the party who invokes the court's authority to "show that he personally has suffered some actual or threatened injury as a result of the putatively illegal conduct of the defendant," and that the injury "fairly can be traced to the challenged action" and "is likely to be redressed by a favorable decision...."

454 U.S. at 472, 102 S.Ct. at 758.² The plaintiff's injury or threat must be "distinct and palpable,"³ and "real and immediate," not "conjectural or hypothetical."⁴

In addition to the constitutionally-mandated requirements for standing, federal courts have adopted a set of prudential principles for guidance in determining whether the federal judicial power should be invoked. Valley Forge Christian College, supra, 454 U.S. at 474-75, 102 S.Ct. at 759-60. Courts, for example, have refrained from exercising jurisdiction over "abstract questions of wide public significance" which amount to "generalized grievances,"⁵ and have required that the plaintiff's claim of injury arguably fall within the "zone of interests to be protected or regulated by the statute or constitutional guarantee in question."⁶

Applying the foregoing analysis to the particular facts in this case, the Court concludes that plaintiff Harley has standing to challenge Sections 6(a) and 6(b)(6) of the Insurance Act, which bar suits against tortfeasors for noneconomic loss unless the victim's medical expenses exceed $5,000 or other specified exceptions apply. Plaintiff Harley, a resident of the District of Columbia, purchased motor vehicle insurance as required by the Insurance Act. He alleges that he sustained physical injuries in a motor vehicle accident in the District of Columbia after the Insurance Act became effective. He avers that his medical expenses will likely not exceed the $5,000 threshold and that he likely does not qualify under any other exceptions to the Act which would allow him to sue the alleged tortfeasor for pain and suffering which is described as noneconomic loss. Plaintiff Harley's apparent inability to sue constitutes injury in fact, is traceable to Sections 6(a) and 6(b)(6) of the Insurance Act, and is likely to be redressed by a favorable decision.

Plaintiff Lisa Van Susteren is a resident of the District of Columbia and a licensed driver. As a District of Columbia motor vehicle owner, she is required under Section 7(c) of the Insurance Act to purchase no-fault coverage for accidents that may occur outside of the District of Columbia. Plaintiff Van Susteren has standing to challenge the constitutionality of this compulsory requirement of the Insurance Act. The required purchase of no-fault insurance is a discernible and definable economic injury sufficient to satisfy the injury-in-fact test, it can be traced to Section 7(c) of the Insurance Act, and it can likely be redressed by a decision rendering that provision invalid. Furthermore, as a motor vehicle owner residing in the District of Columbia, plaintiff Van Susteren clearly falls within the zone of interests to be regulated by the Insurance Act.

Plaintiffs Eileen Dimond and Henry Brent are residents of the State of Maryland and Virginia, respectively, and are licensed drivers. They challenge the constitutionality of Section 4(b)(1) of the Insurance Act on a number of grounds. That section requires nonresidents of the District of Columbia whose motor vehicles are driven in the District to maintain auto insurance coverage that meets the requirements of the Insurance Act. With the exception of their first amendment claims,⁷ plaintiffs Dimond and Brent have standing to challenge the constitutionality of Section 4(b)(1). The required purchase of additional insurance satisfies the injury in fact test, and the other constitutional requirements for standing as well.

Plaintiffs claim that the Insurance Act is null and void because the District of Columbia City Council failed to comply with the procedural requirements of the Self-Government Act, which requires the City Council to read a bill twice in substantially the same form before passage. Section 412(a), D.C.Code § 1-229(a). None of the plaintiffs has standing to challenge the Insurance Act on this ground. As the Supreme Court recently explained, "an asserted right to have the Government act in accordance with law is not sufficient, standing alone, to confer jurisdiction on a federal court." Allen v. Wright, ___ U.S. ___, 104 S.Ct. 3315, 3326, 82 L.Ed.2d 556 (1984). Plaintiffs' claim is nothing more than a generalized grievance alleging abstract injury in nonobservance of the Self-Government Act. See Schlesinger v. Reservists Committee to Stop the War, 418 U.S. 208, 217, 223 n. 13, 94 S.Ct. 2925, 2930, 2933 n. 13, 41 L.Ed.2d 706 (1974); United States v. Richardson, 418 U.S. 166, 176-77, 94 S.Ct. 2940, 2946-47, 41 L.Ed.2d 678 (1974).

There are a host of other provisions of the Insurance Act for which the plaintiffs do not have standing to challenge because none of the plaintiffs has been affected by the provisions or has shown any imminent threat of injury resulting from application of these provisions.⁸ For example, plaintiffs challenge the constitutionality of Section 11(b)(4) of the Insurance Act, which deducts certain government benefits that an accident victim receives from the benefits the victim receives under the no-fault insurance policy. D.C. Code § 35-2110(b)(4). None of the plaintiffs, however, has had a claim for benefits reduced because of government benefits, nor has any plaintiff been imminently threatened with such a reduction.⁹

B. Bar to Recovery for Pain and Suffering (Section 6(b)(6))

Section 6 of the Insurance Act precludes persons injured in motor vehicle accidents from suing the alleged tortfeasor for injuries covered by the Act's personal injury protection benefits. There are a number of exceptions to this limitation on the right to sue. One of those exceptions provides:

A person may be liable for any noneconomic loss if medical expenses of a victim or his or her survivors exceeds $5,000, inclusive of diagnostic x-ray costs....

Section 6(b)(6), D.C.Code § 35-2105(b)(6). "Noneconomic loss" is defined as:

pain, suffering, inconvenience, physical or mental impairment, and other nonpecuniary damage recoverable under the tort law applicable to injury arising out of the maintenance or use of a motor vehicle.

Section 3(19), D.C.Code § 35-2102(19).

Plaintiff Harley contends that because his medical expenses for injuries suffered in an auto accident will likely not exceed $5,000, Section 6(b)(6) bars him from suing the alleged tortfeasor for pain and suffering and other noneconomic loss that he has incurred in violation of equal protection principles under the fifth amendment. Specifically, he claims that the provision establishes an arbitrary and irrational classification between accident victims whose medical expenses exceed $5,000 and those whose expenses fall below that threshold amount.

The test for determining whether a legislative enactment that distinguishes between different groups of persons violates equal protection principles is whether "the legislative classification ... itself is rationally related to a legitimate governmental interest." United States Department of Agriculture v. Moreno, 413 U.S. 528,...