Falter v. Veterans Admin., Civ. No. 79-2284 (JWB).

• Citation: 632 F. Supp. 196
• Decision Date: 31 January 1986
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 79-2284 (JWB).
• Parties: George FALTER, Robert Mahler, William Hilbert, Joseph Scaffuto, John Sousa, and Eugene Madgett, suing Individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated Plaintiffs, v. The VETERANS ADMINISTRATION, an agency of the Government of the United States; Max Cleland, Administrator, Veterans Administration, John Chase, M.D., Director, Department of Medicine and Surgery of the Veterans Administration; Ernest Shacklett, M.D., Director, Veterans Administration, Medical District Number 10-CA-4; Carl M. Mikail, Director, Veterans Administration Medical Center at Lyons, New Jersey; Howard D. Cohn, M.D., Chief of Staff of the Veterans Administration Medical Center at Lyons, New Jersey; J.B. Dodman, R.N., Director of Nursing Home Care Unit at the Veterans Administration Medical Center at Lyons, New Jersey and the United States of America, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey

632 F. Supp. 196

George FALTER, Robert Mahler, William Hilbert, Joseph Scaffuto, John Sousa, and Eugene Madgett, suing Individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated Plaintiffs, v. The VETERANS ADMINISTRATION, an agency of the Government of the United States; Max Cleland, Administrator, Veterans Administration, John Chase, M.D., Director, Department of Medicine and Surgery of the Veterans Administration; Ernest Shacklett, M.D., Director, Veterans Administration, Medical District Number 10-CA-4; Carl M. Mikail, Director, Veterans Administration Medical Center at Lyons, New Jersey; Howard D. Cohn, M.D., Chief of Staff of the Veterans Administration Medical Center at Lyons, New Jersey; J.B. Dodman, R.N., Director of Nursing Home Care Unit at the Veterans Administration Medical Center at Lyons, New Jersey and the United States of America, Defendants.

Civ. No. 79-2284 (JWB).

United States District Court, D. New Jersey, Civil Division.

January 31, 1986.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

William F. Culleton, Deputy Public Advocate, Trenton, N.J., for plaintiffs.

Anne C. Singer, Paul A. Blaine, Asst. U.S. Attys., Newark, N.J., for defendants.

OPINION

BISSELL, District Judge.

This is a class action brought by George Falter, Robert Mahler, William Hilbert, Joseph Scaffuto, John Sousa and Eugene Madgett on behalf of all patients at Lyons Veterans Administration Medical Center (Lyons) to redress certain alleged grievances. The defendants are The Veterans Administration (V.A.); Max Cleland, Administrator, Veterans Administration; John Chase, M.D., Director, Department of Medicine and Surgery of the Veterans Administration; Ernest Shacklett, M.D., Director, Veterans Administration; Carl M. Mikail, Director of Lyons; Howard D. Cohn, M.D., Chief of Staff of Lyons; J.B. Dodman, R.N., Director of Nursing Home Care Unit of Lyons; and the United States of America. No claims for money damages are asserted; only injunctive relief is sought for benefit of the class as a whole or for certain readily identifiable segments thereof. After extensive pretrial proceedings, the case went to trial upon allegations of defendants' conduct which plaintiffs assert is of such magnitude as to violate one or more of their rights under the Constitution of the United States. After a lengthy presentation of their case, plaintiffs rested, whereupon defendants moved for judgment pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 41(b). Because of the extensive testimonial and documentary evidence, the Court required that defendants' motion be set forth in writing and that the briefs on both sides contain specific citations to the record. Having received such materials, the Court is prepared to adjudicate defendants' motions.

I. THE SCOPE OF THE COURT'S REVIEW ON THE PRESENT MOTION

As relevant, Fed.R.Civ.P. 41(b) reads as follows:

After the plaintiff, in an action tried by the court without a jury, has completed the presentation of his evidence, the defendant, without waiving his right to offer evidence in the event the motion is not granted, may move for a dismissal on the ground that upon the facts and the law the plaintiff has shown no right to relief. The court as trier of the facts may then determine them and render judgment against the plaintiff or may decline to render any judgment until the close of all the evidence. If the court renders judgment on the merits against the plaintiff, the court shall make findings as provided in Rule 52(a). Emphasis added.

It is now settled law that a judge, as trier of the facts, should critically evaluate plaintiffs' evidence pursuant to a Rule 41(b) motion. E.g., Emerson Electric Company v. Farmer, 427 F.2d 1082 (5th Cir.1970). When such a motion is filed, the judge must weigh and evaluate the evidence in the same manner as though he were making findings of fact at the conclusion of the entire case, according it such weight as he believes it is entitled to receive. A mere prima facie showing by a plaintiff will not withstand a defense motion under Rule 41(b). E.g., Ellis v. Carter, 328 F.2d 573, 577 (9th Cir.1964). Subsequent to the adoption in 1946 of amendments to Rule 41(b) which added the last two sentences quoted above, it is clear that "the Court is not to make any special inferences in plaintiffs' favor, nor concern itself with whether plaintiff has made out a prima facie case. Instead, it is to weigh the evidence, resolve any conflicts in it, and decide for itself where the preponderance lies." 9 Wright & Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure: Civil § 2371 at 224-225 (1971) (footnotes omitted).

The Third Circuit now accepts the distinction between directed verdict motions in jury trials and motions to dismiss in non-jury cases.

In O'Brien v. Westinghouse Electric Corporation, 293 F.2d 1 (3d Cir.1961), a jury case, the Court, in dictum, clearly distinguished between a motion to dismiss in non-jury trials and a motion for directed verdict in jury trials:

It is clear a motion under Rule 41(b) for dismissal at the end of plaintiff's case, that upon the facts and the law the plaintiff has shown no right to relief, is proper in a case without a jury. Upon granting such a motion the court should make findings of fact and conclusions of law pursuant to Rule 52(a). Upon review the findings must be accepted unless clearly erroneous. It is equally clear that in a jury case the question only can be one of law.

293 F.2d at 9. See also Kahn v. Massler, 241 F.2d 47, 48 (3d Cir.1957) and Bateman v. Ford Motor Company, 310 F.2d 805, 807 (3d Cir.1962).

Indeed, district courts within the Third Circuit now uniformly recognize that pursuant to a Rule 41(b) motion, they "need not view the evidence in a manner most favorable to the plaintiff, but instead must weigh it, deciding issues of fact and credibility." Dickerson v. United States Steel Corporation, 439 F.Supp. 55, 63-64 (E.D. Pa.1977); see also Beissinger v. Rockwood Computer Corp., 529 F.Supp. 770, 775 n. 4 (E.D.Pa.1981); Sworob v. Harris, 451 F.Supp. 96, 99 (E.D.Pa.), aff'd mem., 578 F.2d 1376 (3d Cir.1978), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 1089, 99 S.Ct. 871, 59 L.Ed.2d 55 (1979); Pan American World Airways, Inc. v. Continental Bank, 435 F.Supp. 642, 643 n. 1 (E.D.Pa.1977).

Thus, a motion to dismiss in a non-jury trial is very different than a motion for a directed verdict in a jury trial. As the plain language of Rule 41(b) itself indicates, the Court in a non-jury trial has not only the right, but the duty to examine the credibility of witnesses and to weigh the evidence on such a motion. In short the Court is called upon to adjudicate the case on the merits, and need not consider plaintiffs' evidence in the light most favorable to them, as required in a jury trial.

II. BASIC PRINCIPLES GOVERNING THE GRANTING OR DENIAL OF INJUNCTIVE RELIEF

Injunctive relief is an extraordinary remedy, not to be granted absent a finding of irreparable injury, not compensable by adequate remedies at law, and a real or immediate threat that plaintiffs will be wronged again. One major treatise on federal civil procedure has stated the following in this regard:

There is no power the exercise of which is more delicate, which requires greater caution, deliberation, and sound discretion, or more dangerous in a doubtful case, than the issuing of an injunction; it is the strong arm of equity, that never ought to be extended unless to cases of great injury, where courts of law cannot afford an adequate or commensurate remedy in damages. The right must be clear, the injury impending or threatened, so as to be averted only by the protecting preventive process of injunction: but that will not be awarded in doubtful cases, or new ones, not coming within well established principles; for if it issues erroneously, an irreparable injury is inflicted, for which there can be no redress, it being the act of a court, not of the party who prays for it.

11 Wright & Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure: Civil § 2942 at 369 (1973) (quoting Bonaparte v. Camden, 3 Fed.Cas. 821, 827 (No. 1,617) (C.C.D.N.J.1830)).

Injunctive relief must not be awarded merely to assuage fears of what may happen in the future, e.g., Roseboro v. Fayetteville City Board of Education, 491 F.Supp. 110, 112 (E.D.Tenn.1977); or be based upon speculative determinations of what may happen in the future, e.g., Bradley v. Detroit Board of Education, 577 F.2d 1032, 1035 (6th Cir.1978). The mere possibility of future misconduct is not enough, e.g., Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press v. American Telephone & Telegraph Co., 593 F.2d 1030, 1064-65 (D.C.Cir.1978), cert. denied, 440 U.S. 949, 99 S.Ct. 1431, 59 L.Ed.2d 639 (1979). Rather, the harm must be threatened or imminent, and must be such that there is no adequate remedy in damages. E.g., Detroit News Pub. Assn. v. Detroit Typo. Union, 471 F.2d 872, 876 (6th Cir. 1972), cert. denied, 411 U.S. 967, 93 S.Ct. 2149, 36 L.Ed.2d 687 (1973). As the Third Circuit has stated:

We must protect that which is protectable, but, in so doing, we must limit the use of injunctive relief to situations where it is necessary to prevent immediate and irreparable injury. The dramatic and drastic power of injunctive force may be unleashed only against conditions generating a presently existing actual threat; it may not be used simply to eliminate a possibility of a remote future injury, or a future invasion of rights....

Holiday Inns of America v. B & B Corp., 409 F.2d 614, 618 (3d Cir.1969).

Against this long-standing set of basic principles governing the issuance of injunctions, clear-cut legal standards have recently emerged as to when injunctive relief based on claimed constitutional violations by governmental entities or agencies is appropriate.

Succinctly stated, an injunction against particular conduct in such a setting will lie only where a plaintiff establishes that such conduct is virtually universal in practice or is codified, authorized or uniformly acquiesced in by...