Dorr v. Weber

• Decision Date: 07 July 2010
• Docket Number: No. C 08–4093–MWB.,C 08–4093–MWB.
• Citation: 741 F.Supp.2d 1010
• Parties: Paul DORR and Alexander Dorr, individually, and on behalf of all other persons similarly situated, Plaintiffs,v.Douglas L. WEBER, individually, and in his capacity as Sheriff of Osceola County, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Iowa

741 F.Supp.2d 1010

Paul DORR and Alexander Dorr, individually, and on behalf of all other persons similarly situated, Plaintiffs,

v.Douglas L. WEBER, individually, and in his capacity as Sheriff of Osceola County, Defendant.

No. C 08–4093–MWB.

United States District Court, N.D. Iowa, Western Division.

July 7, 2010.

Erick G. Kaardal, Vincent J. Fahnlander, Mohrman & Kaardal, PA, Minneapolis, MN, William F. Mohrman, Saint Paul, MN, for Plaintiffs.Douglas L. Phillips, Klass Law Firm, L.L.P., Sioux City, IA, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER REGARDING BENCH TRIAL ON THE MERITS

MARK W. BENNETT, District Judge.

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                ¦TABLE OF CONTENTS¦
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I. INTRODUCTION                                                      1011
                II. FINDINGS OF FACT                                                  1012
                III. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW                                                1016
                IV. REMEDIES                                                          1021
                V. CONCLUSION                                                        1022
                

I. INTRODUCTION

After a one day bench trial, the court is called upon to decide whether Defendant Sheriff Weber's decision to deny Plaintiffs—father and son—Paul and Alexander Dorr's applications for concealed weapons permits was in retaliation for exercising their First Amendment rights.¹ Paul Dorr, and to a lesser extent Alexander Dorr, engaged in extensive First Amendment activity like protesting, passing out leaflets, and writing letters to the editor. Although determining what went on in a decision-maker's mind is almost always a daunting challenge, the sheriff's honest, credible, forthright, truthful, and consistent testimony makes this task unusually simple. The court finds a tsunami, a maelstrom, an avalanche, of direct, uncontroverted evidence in Sheriff Weber's own testimony to conclude beyond all doubt that he unquestionably violated the First Amendment rights of at least Paul Dorr. ²

II. FINDINGS OF FACT ³

Plaintiff Paul Dorr is a husband of 34 years and a father to eleven. He, along with his wife Debra, have provided a stable home, and classroom, to their eleven home-schooled children. The family's residence has long been in Osceola County, Iowa, and, more specifically, the town of Ocheyedan.

Paul's decision to settle in Ocheyedan was, at least in part, a result of his decision to apply his Iowa State University degree in Agriculture Business and Economics to providing agricultural loans to farmers at a local bank. While employed at the bank, Paul earned the trust of the elderly gentleman who owned the bank and was able to acquire an interest in it. Although he and the owner shared similarly conservative views concerning the amount of debt farmers should shoulder, the owner's son had also acquired an interest in the bank and did not share those views. As a result, Paul sold his interest in the bank to the owner's son, and Paul began a career in bank consulting.

Paul's new consulting business provided him with the ability to help banks review their asset quality through a computerized credit analysis program, but he eventually came to the realization that there were others who were in greater need of his help. Paul believed that the debt load he had witnessed in the banking business was putting a strain on families, driving mothers into the workforce, and preventing women from having children. After closing his bank consulting business, Paul refocused his efforts toward protesting the laws that legalize abortion as the head of a pro-life ministry called Rescue the Perishing.⁴

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For the first few years of this effort, Paul's protests amounted to bake sales, letters to the editor, and addresses to church congregations. However, Paul eventually stepped up his efforts and began nonviolent protests in front of abortion clinics, which involved blocking doors, praying, and other nonviolent activities. His activities with Rescue the Perishing spanned the nation, as Paul traveled near and far, from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Omaha, Nebraska, and Minneapolis, Minnesota to Atlanta, Georgia, and Wakefield, Virginia.⁵ As a result of these activities, Paul has been arrested and convicted multiple times for a variety of non-violent offenses, has served jail time, and even received death threats. It is Paul's belief that he contributed to raising the debate on abortion laws to a national level. Paul also started to believe that abortions were, at least in part, the result of the way children were being taught in public schools.

Paul disagreed with the content that was taught in public schools and the inefficient manner in which the content was being taught. Because of these beliefs, Paul began to fight levies and bonds to fund schools, and other activities of the local government, by informing voters of his views on the excess spending by local governments. With time, Paul would, once again, put his entrepreneurial spirit to use by providing these services to groups seeking to defeat levies, bonds, and other spending proposals. His services included distributing flyers, writing letters to the local newspapers, and other consulting support. Although Paul had been providing his opinions through these means as far back as 1990, about abortion and other issues, by 2001, he was getting paid for his advocacy. Following an advertisement in a magazine explaining the services he could provide, his business took off. Paul named his consulting business Copperhead Consulting Services.⁶

Paul provided his advocacy services for pay, but he also supplemented his income by selling balloons along the Rivercade Parade route. This business required Paul, and family members who helped him—including his son, Plaintiff Alexander Dorr—to carry large amounts of cash in fanny packs. As much as $1,500.00 might be in his or a family member's fanny pack during Rivercade.

Because of Paul's controversial advocacy and occasional possession of large amounts of cash, he decided to apply for a nonprofessional permit to carry a weapon, which under Iowa law amounts to a permit to carry a concealed weapon. From at least the late 1990's to 2005, Paul applied for—and was granted—a concealed weapons permit. However, Paul's July 7, 2007, application for a permit was denied. Defendant Sheriff Weber wrote on Paul's application, as the reason for disapproving the application: “Concern from Public. Don't trust him.” See Trial Exhibit 1. The following year, Sheriff Weber denied Alexander's application for a permit and informed Paul that he would deny any further applications from him. See Trial Exhibit 3.

Alexander applied for a permit for generally the same reasons as his father, Paul. He believed that he needed to carry a firearm for his protection, due to past death threats to the family in connection with its pro-life advocacy, and due to the large amounts of cash he carried in relation to the balloon business. Both Alexander and Paul Dorr believed that the denials of their applications for concealed weapons permits, by Sheriff Weber, were the result of their advocacy against county spending.

Sheriff Weber was, in fact, aware of the Dorrs' advocacy in the community and previous convictions and arrests.⁷ Since 1979, Sheriff Weber has been in the Osceola County Sheriff's Office, as either a deputy or sheriff. ⁸ He had met Paul and crossed paths with him occasionally during his time as a deputy. Sheriff Weber stated that he had received some complaints related to Paul—there was no evidence presented at trial that the complaints had merit or that any charges were filed. Through the years, Sheriff Weber heard comments about Paul, which related to him being “weird.” Sheriff Weber also read a couple of Paul's letters in the paper, but he eventually quit reading them, finding that they were a waste of time to read. The letters were weird, according to Sheriff Weber, because of the words Paul used. Sheriff Weber also believed that many people in the community believed Paul was weird, because of his letters and other political activities in the community. Despite Sheriff Weber's belief that Paul was weird, Sheriff Weber granted him a concealed weapons permit, after he had become sheriff, in 2005 and 2006.

Sheriff Weber had also crossed paths with Alexander prior to denying his application for a permit, but only once. In 2006 or 2007, Alexander was handing out flyers for his father, Paul, outside of a manufacturing plant in Sibley. The plant manager had confronted Alexander, asked him to leave, and may have called the Sheriff's office. Sheriff Weber and a deputy eventually arrived on the scene, probably as a result of a call from the plant manager. Alexander explained that Sheriff Weber approached him, recognized that he was not violating any laws, and stated that he would tell the plant manager that he was allowed to hand out flyers as he had been doing. Alexander provided Sheriff Weber with a flyer as he was leaving.

The distributed flyers were part of a broader effort by the Osceola County Taxpayers Association (“OCTA”) to inform the public of their goals. The OCTA had engaged Paul, in February of 2007, to provide consulting services in connection with the group's belief that the county budget was too large for such a small rural county. In particular, Paul was to investigate expenditures in relation to the public safety commission and county attorney's office. Paul began his investigation by seeking public records from the O'Brien County Auditor—Paul sent a letter to the auditor's office requesting documents relating to the compensation in the county attorney's office. Although Paul requested that the letter be kept confidential, the contents of the letter were communicated outside of the office.

Paul made a similar request for records from Sheriff Weber, in the spring of 2007, when he requested the compensation...