Griffin Industries, Inc. v. Irvin

• Decision Date: 21 August 2007
• Docket Number: No. 06-12370.,06-12370.
• Parties: GRIFFIN INDUSTRIES, INC., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Tommy IRVIN, in his official capacity as Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Agriculture and in his individual capacity, Lee Myers, in his official capacity as Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Agriculture and in his individual capacity, et al., Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

496 F.3d 1189

GRIFFIN INDUSTRIES, INC., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Tommy IRVIN, in his official capacity as Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Agriculture and in his individual capacity, Lee Myers, in his official capacity as Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Agriculture and in his individual capacity, et al., Defendants-Appellants.

No. 06-12370.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

August 21, 2007.

Dana K. Maine, Paul B. Frickey, Theodore Freeman, Freeman, Mathis & Gary, LLP, George M. Weaver, Hollberg & Weaver, LLP, Atlanta, GA, Michael A. O'Quinn, O'Quinn & Cronin, McDonough, GA, for Defendants-Appellants.

Katherine V. Hernacki, L. Lin Wood, Jr., Eric P. Schroeder, Powell Goldstein, LLP, Christopher S. Anulewicz, Michael J. Bowers, Balch & Bingham, LLP, Atlanta, GA, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

Before HULL and MARCUS, Circuit Judges, and BARZILAY,^* Judge.

MARCUS, Circuit Judge:

This unusual civil rights case presents the question, on interlocutory appeal, whether the defendants, who are state environmental regulators and local political actors, may be held liable for violations of the Equal Protection Clause for taking regulatory action against an industrial facility. Griffin Industries, which owns a chicken rendering plant in East Dublin Georgia, brought a section 1983 suit against various state and local defendants on the theory that the defendants violated its constitutional right to equal protection by "disparately treat[ing] and disparately regulat[ing] Griffin Industries in a way that its competitors . . . are not treated or regulated." Compl. ¶ 20. After careful review, we reverse the district court's order denying the defendants' motions to dismiss and hold that the defendants were entitled to qualified immunity.

I. BACKGROUND

When we review the district court's denial of qualified immunity at the motion to dismiss stage, we accept, as we must, the factual allegations in the complaint as true and draw all reasonable inferences therefrom in the plaintiff's favor. Dacosta v. Nwachukwa, 304 F.3d 1045, 1047 (11th Cir.2002). With this standard in mind, we provide the factual background of the case before proceeding to outline the specific allegations Griffin made against the individual defendants.

A. Factual Overview

Griffin Industries, Inc., a Kentucky corporation, owns a chicken rendering plant in East Dublin, Georgia, a town in east-central Georgia about halfway between Atlanta and Savannah. The East Dublin facility processes animal waste products such as chicken feathers, bones, blood, grease, and carcasses into commercial products used in animal feeds, cosmetics, fertilizers, and other products. Griffin has owned the facility since 1981.

Beginning in the late 1990s, the plant saw a substantial increase in the number of odor complaints coming from local residents. More people had moved into the area near the plant, and Griffin had entered into contracts with significant poultry producers in the state, increasing the plant's rendering volume. According to Griffin's complaint, local officials including East Dublin Mayor George Gornto and attorney Joshua Kight then began trying to limit or end rendering operations at the plant. Specifically, Griffin claimed that the defendants encouraged residents and businesses to file odor complaints against Griffin, required the plant to participate in an odor study conducted by the Georgia Institute of Technology, published editorials attacking Griffin in the local newspaper, and utilized the East Dublin Police Department to intimidate and harass the company.

Griffin said that these efforts intensified in 2002, when state regulators at the Georgia Department of Agriculture (GDA) and the Environmental Protection Division (EPD) of the Georgia Department of National Resources became involved in a conspiracy against it. Griffin alleged that EPD Director Harold Reheis, GDA Commissioner Tommy Irvin, and GDA Assistant Commissioner Lee Myers joined Gornto and Kight in the conspiracy. Dubose Porter, who represented the district including East Dublin in the Georgia General Assembly and is co-owner and editor of the Dublin Courier-Herald, was also alleged to have participated.

On August 6, 2002, the EPD issued a draft permit for the Griffin facility pursuant to Title V of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 7661-7661f.¹ Griffin objected to certain aspects of the draft Title V permit and EPD and Griffin negotiated over the permit that fall. Griffin and the EPD eventually reached voluntary agreement on the permit on October 29, 2002, just prior to a public hearing. At the hearing, however, local officials strongly objected to the draft permit and pushed for stronger odor regulations. Subsequent Title V permit drafts were issued on September 9, 2003, and December 24, 2003. According to Griffin, the December 24 permit contained new odor control provisions more stringent than those imposed on any other chicken rendering facility in the state.

In addition to the air quality regulations in the Title V permit, the Griffin plant is subject to water quality controls. Wastewater generated at the plant during the rendering process is pumped through a series of ponds or lagoons for purification and then sprayed onto an irrigation field through a land application system (LAS). This LAS is operated under a permit from the EPD that requires Griffin to track and record the timing and volume of sprays, along with the quality of the water being sprayed on the field. There are prohibitions on spraying when the field is saturated to prevent water from running off into local streams, and testing of the underlying groundwater through monitoring wells is also required.

In May 2000, the EPD issued Griffin a new LAS permit that allowed Griffin to triple the volume of water sprayed on the field. On March 14, 2003, however, the EPD issued an "emergency order" suspending this permit. Griffin challenged the suspension in proceedings before a state administrative law judge. According to the complaint and its attachments, the judge found that the EPD had established "that numerous events occurring around the first part of 2003 made it suspect for the first time that there might be problems with the operation of East Dublin's LAS and with the reliability of the data which it had received in the past from the East Dublin plant." Compl. Ex. U at 9. While acknowledging that these events gave rise to "unanswered questions" regarding the operation of Griffin's land application system, the administrative judge concluded that the EPD had failed to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the suspension order was justified by a "substantial and imminent threat" to water quality or public health. Id. at 9-10. Accordingly, the judge revoked the EPD's emergency order suspending Griffin's LAS permit on April 29, 2003.

Griffin alleged that the defendants have nevertheless continued to discriminate against the plant since the revocation of the emergency order, "harassing it and ... imposing additional burdens on Griffin industries that are not imposed on similarly situated rendering facilities," "selectively and maliciously prosecut[ing] Griffin Industries," and "depriving Griffin Industries of its property rights." Compl. ¶¶ 100-02.

B. Alleged Conduct of Specific Defendants

Griffin brought this section 1983 suit against a group of state and local officials on March 11, 2005. The defendants involved in this interlocutory appeal,² and the factual allegations pertaining to each of them, are detailed below.

1. George Gornto

George Gornto is the mayor of the City of East Dublin. Griffin claimed that Gornto hoped to "curry political favor" and increase the value of real estate he owned near the Griffin plant by working to shut it down. Specifically, Gornto was said to have pushed East Dublin residents to file odor complaints against Griffin; pressured state regulators to act against the plant; engaged a lawyer, Joshua Kight, to pursue legal remedies against Griffin; used the East Dublin Police Department to monitor activity at the facility, including the operation of the LAS; and generally conspired with the other defendants against Griffin.

2. DuBose Porter

Dubose Porter holds a seat in the Georgia General Assembly and is co-owner and editor of the Dublin Courier-Herald. Like Gornto, Porter allegedly acted against Griffin to advance his personal interests, increase the value of real estate near the plant held by business associates, and generally "curry political favor." Compl. ¶ 31. Griffin specifically claimed that Porter "used the power of his office to demand that Griffin Industries participate in a University of Georgia/Georgia Institute of Technology `odor study'" in 2000. Id. ¶ 33. The complaint further described conduct including meeting with state environmental regulators concerning the plant, publishing hostile editorials and articles in his newspaper, and telephoning a Griffin vice president to warn that regulatory action would be forthcoming if the odor problem was not resolved. Finally, Griffin claimed that Porter persuaded EPD to move up the date of a public hearing on Griffin's Title V permit to benefit his 2002 reelection campaign.

3. Joshua Kight

Joshua Kight is a private attorney who was engaged by Gornto, East Dublin, and Laurens County in the campaign against Griffin. Griffin alleged that Kight incited an investigation by the federal Environmental Protection Agency by presenting the agency with an affidavit, signed by a former Griffin employee, that contained false statements. On February 20, 2003, the EPA executed a search warrant at the East Dublin plant. Griffin and several corporate executives were subsequently indicted on criminal environmental law charges. According to Griffin's complaint, these charges were later dropped.

On the very day the EPA search was...