Grendell v. Ohio Supreme Court

• Decision Date: 16 March 2001
• Docket Number: Nos. 99-4513,s. 99-4513
• Citation: 252 F.3d 828
• Parties: (6th Cir. 2001) Timothy J. Grendell; Gerald W. Phillips, Plaintiffs-Appellants/Cross-Appellees, v. The Ohio Supreme Court, et al., Defendants-Appellees/Cross-Appellants. ; 00-3022 Argued:
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Page 828

252 F.3d 828 (6th Cir. 2001)

Timothy J. Grendell; Gerald W. Phillips, Plaintiffs-Appellants/Cross-Appellees, v. The Ohio Supreme Court, et al., Defendants-Appellees/Cross-Appellants.

Nos. 99-4513; 00-3022

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

Argued: March 16, 2001

Decided and Filed: June 5, 2001

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio at Columbus, No. 99-01063, Edmund A. Sargus, Jr., District Judge. [Copyrighted Material Omitted] Timothy J. Grendell, GRENDELL & SIMON CO., Cleveland, Ohio, Gerald W. Phillips, Avon, Ohio, for Appellants.

Elise W. Porter, Michael J. Renner, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellees.

Before: COLE and GILMAN, Circuit Judges; ALDRICH, District Judge. ^*

OPINION

ALDRICH, District Judge.

The plaintiff-appellants and cross-appellees, Timothy Grendell and Gerald Phillips ("Grendell"), bring this case against the defendant-appellees and cross-appellants, the Ohio Supreme Court and four of the justices serving on that Court ("the Ohio Supreme Court"), seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. Grendell argues that Ohio Supreme Court Practice Rule XIV, § 5 ("Rule XIV, § 5" or "the Rule") is unconstitutional on its face, violating the Due Process Clause of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution, since it does not afford notice and the opportunity to be heard. Ruling on the Ohio Supreme Court's motion to dismiss under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6), Judge Edmund Sargus (S.D. Ohio) held that: (1) Grendell had standing to bring the claim; and (2) the Rule was not unconstitutional on its face. The case was dismissed and Grendell appeals to this Court. The Ohio Supreme Court cross-appeals on the issue of standing. For the following reasons, this Court REVERSES the district court on the issue of standing, and AFFIRMS the dismissal of Grendell's claim.

I. Background

This case involves sanctions imposed by the Ohio Supreme Court against the plaintiff-appellants in a different, though related case, State of Ohio ex rel. Grendell v. Davidson, 86 Ohio St. 3d 629, 716 N.E.2d 704 (Ohio 1999). In that case, Diane Grendell, a member of the Ohio House of Representatives ("Ohio House") and the wife of the plaintiff-appellant, sought the addition of a provision to an appropriations bill in the Ohio General Assembly that would have resulted in funding for the Geauga County Airport Authority ("airport"). Though initially agreed upon by both the Ohio House and the Ohio Senate, the airport provision was eventually dropped from the appropriations bill by the conference committee. Grendell and his wife then brought suit against various members of the Ohio General Assembly, arguing that those members had violated internal legislative rules in dropping the airport provision. Grendell sought a writ of mandamus seeking, among other things, to compel the chairman of the Assembly conference committee to include the airport provision in a new committee report; to direct the Ohio House and Senate to vote on the report; and to order the Speaker of the Ohio House and the President of the Ohio Senate to present the bill to the governor. See id. at 630, 716 N.E.2d 704.

Not surprisingly, the Ohio Supreme Court dismissed the case. Citing a plethora of legal authority, that Court noted:

[I]t is well settled that, in considering the validity of a statute, courts will not inquire into whether the legislature complied with its own rules in enacting the statute, so long as no constitutional provision is violated.

Id. at 633, 716 N.E.2d 704. Since the exclusion of the airport provision impugned no constitutional interests and dealt solely with observation of internal legislative procedures, the case was dismissed.

Before the issuance of the Ohio Supreme Court's opinion in State of Ohio ex rel. Grendell, the respondents in that case moved for sanctions pursuant to Ohio Rule of Civil Procedure11 and Ohio Revised Code § 2323.51. Grendell did not respond to that motion. In its decision, the Ohio Supreme Court addressed the Speaker's motion for sanctions, holding:

Sanctions are warranted here. For the reasons previously discussed, this action is frivolous insofar as relators' counsel relied on the General Assembly's joint rules because the action is not reasonably well grounded in fact or warranted by existing law or a good-faith argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing law. S.Ct.Prac.R. XIV(5). Further, as respondents contend, harassment is the only apparent rationale for relators' attorneys to erroneously allege that Thomas's actions constitute the criminal offenses of retaliation, intimidation, and coercion. Finally, these same attorneys recently filed a meritless extraordinary writ case in which we emphasized their "unjustified delaying tactics" and "acts of gamesmanship." State ex rel. The Ryant Commt. v. Lorain Cty. Bd. of Elections (1999), 86 Ohio St.3d 107, 113, 712 N.E.2d 696, 701.

State of Ohio ex rel. Grendell, 86 Ohio St. 3d at 636.

Grendell then brought the instant action in federal district court, seeking a temporary restraining order ("TRO") against the Ohio Supreme Court to prevent the enforcement of sanctions pursuant to Rule XIV, § 5. Grendell alleged that the Ohio Supreme Court violated due process when it imposed sanctions pursuant to the Rule without notice and an opportunity to be heard. In recognition of the Rooker-Feldman doctrine of federal court jurisdiction, Grendell then amended his TRO to a general constitutional challenge seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. Grendell asserts that the Rule, on its face, violates the Due Process Clause as found in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution, since it fails to require notice and the opportunity to be heard before the imposition of sanctions. Grendell further claims that the Ohio Supreme Court's prior imposition of sanctions pursuant to the Rule led him to withdraw from two cases before that Court, for fear of exposing himself to unconstitutionally imposed sanctions. The district court dismissed the action, holding, among other things, that Grendell had standing to sue, but that his due process claim was not meritorious. Grendell timely appeals, arguing that Rule XIV, § 5 is unconstitutional on its face. The Ohio Supreme Court opposes and cross-appeals, arguing that Grendell has no standing to bring the claim. Grendell opposes the cross-appeal.

II. Standard of Review

This Court reviews a district court's legal determination of standing de novo. See Johnson v. Econ. Dev. Corp. of the County of Oakland, 241 F.3d 501, 507 (6th Cir. 2001). Since the district court dismissed this case pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6), we accept all of Grendell's factual allegations as true. See Jackson v. City of Columbus, 194 F.3d 737, 746-47 (6th Cir. 1999).

III. Analysis

Standing is the "threshold question in every federal case." Coyne v. American Tobacco Co., 183 F.3d 488, 494 (6th Cir. 1999). In order to satisfy Article III's standing requirement, Grendell: (1) must have suffered some actual or threatened injury due the to alleged illegal conduct (the "injury in fact element"); (2) the injury must be fairly traceable to the challenged action (the "causation element"); and (3) there must be a substantial likelihood that the relief requested will redress or prevent Grendell's injury (the "redressability element"). See id. Since this case deals with declaratory and injunctive relief, a pre-enforcement challenge may be made before the actual completion of an injury in fact. See Nat'l Rifle Assoc. of Am. v. Magaw, 132 F.3d 272, 279 (6th Cir. 1997). However, "when seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, a plaintiff must show actual present harm or a significant possibility of future harm in order to demonstrate the need for pre-enforcement review." Id.

Grendell presents three arguments to support the claim that he has standing to make a facial constitutional challenge to Rule XIV, § 5. First, Grendell notes that he was previously sanctioned, allegedly without due process protections, in State of Ohio ex rel. Grendell. Second, Grendell claims that he is subject to the "continuing (sic) present adverse effects of the unconstitutionality of . . . Rule XIV(5)" that "chills" the exercise of protected conduct. Grendell's 3d Br. at 28. Third, Grendell argues that since his claim arises under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine of jurisdiction, he has standing to bring his facial challenge to the constitutionality of Rule XIV, § 5. None of these justifications, however, are sufficient to confer standing in this case.

A. Past Exposure to Sanctions

As an initial matter, the mere fact that Grendell was previously sanctioned by the Ohio Supreme Court in State of Ohio ex rel. Grendell is not an adequate injury in fact to confer standing for declaratory and injunctive relief. As the Supreme Court has noted, "past exposure to illegal conduct does not in itself show a present case or controversy regarding injunctive relief . . . if unaccompanied by any continuing, present adverse effects." City of Los Angeles v. Lyons, 461 U.S. 95, 102 (1983). Indeed, prior precedent establishes that where a state court has issued sanctions pursuant to a civil contempt proceeding, only those litigants still under the influence of those penalties have standing. See Judice v. Vail, 430 U.S. 327, 332-33 (1977) ("once the period of incarceration is served or the fine paid, the effect of the orders imposing a fine or commitment has expended itself," and the party lacks standing to seek injunctive relief). As the sanctions imposed by the Ohio Supreme Court have already been perfected by State of Ohio ex rel. Grendell, this past injury has no continuing, present adverse effects and cannot establish standing for declaratory and injunctive relief.

Previous sanctions might be "evidence bearing on whether there is a real and immediate threat of...