Halderman v. Pennhurst State School and Hospital

• Decision Date: 21 October 1981
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 74-1345.
• Citation: 526 F. Supp. 423
• Parties: Terri Lee HALDERMAN et al., Plaintiffs, v. PENNHURST STATE SCHOOL AND HOSPITAL et al., Defendants, United States of America, Plaintiff-Intervenor, Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Citizens et al., Plaintiffs-Intervenors.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

526 F. Supp. 423

Terri Lee HALDERMAN et al., Plaintiffs, v. PENNHURST STATE SCHOOL AND HOSPITAL et al., Defendants United States of America, Plaintiff-Intervenor Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Citizens et al., Plaintiffs-Intervenors.

Civ. A. No. 74-1345.

United States District Court, E. D. Pennsylvania.

October 21, 1981.

David Ferleger, Philadelphia, Pa., for Terri Lee Halderman.

Thomas M. Kittredge, Philadelphia, Pa., for Bucks, Chester and Delaware Counties.

Robert B. Hoffman, Deputy Atty. Gen., Harrisburg, Pa., for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Thomas Gilhool, Philadelphia, Pa., for Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Citizens.

Herbert B. Newberg, Philadelphia, Pa., for David Ferleger, Esq.

Pamela P. Cohen, Philadelphia, Pa., for Pennhurst Parents Association.

Adjor A. Burrow, Civil Rights Div., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., R. Stephen Barrett, Asst. County Sol., Norristown, Pa., for Montgomery County.

Marc H. Myers, Asst. City Sol., Philadelphia, Pa., for Philadelphia County.

MEMORANDUM

RAYMOND J. BRODERICK, District Judge.

Plaintiffs Terri Lee Halderman et al. and the Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Citizens (PARC), et al. have petitioned this Court to apply a portion of the fund which is presently in the Registry of the Court, which fund has been created by Common-wealth defendants' payments of a fine in the nature of a coercive and compensatory civil contempt fine imposed by this Court's Order of August 25, 1981. Specifically, plaintiffs ask the Court to transfer $100,000.00 from the fund to the Special Master and the Hearing Master to pay for the costs of the Masters' offices during July and August, 1981.

The Commonwealth defendants have been ordered to fund the Masters' offices and, pursuant to monthly Orders, to pay into the Registry of this Court the amounts budgeted each month for the payment of the salaries, wages, and other expenses of both the Hearing Master's office and the Special Master's office. On June 4, 1981, this Court signed, and on June 5, 1981, the Clerk entered two Orders for payments of the costs of the Special Master and the Hearing Master for the month of July, 1981, in the amounts, respectively, of $59,152.74 and $8,593.34, a total of $67,746.08. These Orders specified that payment was to be made "on or before the first day of July, 1981." The Commonwealth made no payment pursuant to the June 4, 1981 order on or before July 1, 1981. At a conference on July 6, 1981, the Commonwealth advised the Court that it would soon be paying $35,000.00 into the Registry of the Court for the expenses of the Master and that no additional sums would be paid for that purpose unless the Legislature passed a supplemental appropriation. On July 7, 1981, this Court issued an Order to show cause why the Commonwealth defendants should not be held in civil contempt in connection with their failure to comply with the Court's Order of June 4, 1981 to pay $67,746.08 into the Registry of the Court on or before July 1, 1981 for the purpose of defraying the costs of the Special Master and the Hearing Master. On or about July 13, 1981, the Commonwealth paid into the Registry of the Court the sum of $35,000.00. On July 16, 1981, this Court entered an Order directing that the $35,000.00 be paid to the Office of the Special Master and made a finding that the Commonwealth was in default in the amount of $32,746.08. Since that time, the Commonwealth defendants have failed to comply with six subsequent funding Orders of this Court. The Commonwealth defendants' default now totals $235,984.90. On July 24, 1981, at the hearing on the Order to show cause why the Commonwealth defendants should not be held in civil contempt, the Commonwealth again advised the Court that it did not intend to comply with the Court's Orders concerning the expenses of the Masters.

Based on these events and evidence adduced at the July 24 hearing, the Court concluded that the Department of Public Welfare and its Secretary, Helen O'Bannon, were in contempt of Court (Memorandum of August 25, 1981). Specifically, the Court found that as a result of the actions of the Secretary and the Department, the Legislature did not make an appropriation for the continued functioning of the Masters' offices (Memorandum of August 25, 1981 at 14-18). This Court's Order of August 25, 1981 directed the Department to fund the Masters' offices on or before September 2, 1981 or commence paying into the Registry of this Court $10,000.00 per day as a civil contempt fine. Rather than fund the Masters' offices, the Commonwealth defendants have determined to remain in contempt of this Court's Orders and have, however, paid the civil fine of $10,000.00 per day. As of October 21, 1981, the total amount of the civil fines paid into the Registry of this Court is $300,000.00.

For the reasons discussed herein, the Court will enter an Order transferring $100,000 of the fund in the Court Registry, which now totals $300,000.00, to the Masters for disbursements to be used for the payment of future expenses incurred and wages and salaries hereinafter earned in connection with the full-scale operation of the Masters' offices. In its Order the Court has directed the Masters' offices to resume full-scale operations as of this date. This transfer of funds generated by the compensatory and coercive contempt fines does not purge the Commonwealth defendants of contempt.

As is now well-known to the litigants, this Court, in an opinion filed December 23, 1977, 446 F.Supp. 1295 made findings of fact and conclusions of law holding that defendants were violating the constitutional and statutory rights of members of the plaintiff class by failing to provide them with minimally adequate habilitation in the least restrictive environment. As the trial record in this case reveals, all parties to this litigation admitted that the residents of Pennhurst were not receiving minimally adequate habilitation. The Court found that Pennhurst as an institution is inappropriate and inadequate to habilitate the retarded. At trial, the Commonwealth represented that it intended to close Pennhurst in the early 1980's. This it has not done.

On January 6, 1978, this Court held a hearing to determine the injunctive remedy necessary. The parties were asked to attempt to agree on the terms of the Court's Order, but no agreement was forthcoming. The Court requested that they submit separate proposed orders. On March 17, 1978, 446 F.Supp. 1295 at 1326, the Court issued an injunction which, among other things, created the Office of the Special Master. The Special Master was appointed to monitor defendants' planning for and the providing of community living arrangements and services in addition to monitoring living conditions at Pennhurst, as well as in the community facilities to which Pennhurst residents would be transferred. The Commonwealth defendants, when not faced with contempt proceedings during a two and one-half year period from the entry of this Court's Order of March 17, 1978 through the end of August, 1980, transferred only 122 of approximately 1,200 Pennhurst residents to community living arrangements. The Commonwealth defendants' failure to comply with this Court's Orders during that period underscored the need for the Masters' offices.

On December 13, 1979, the Court of Appeals approved this Court's appointment of the Special Master, and its "determination that, for the retarded class members as a whole, Pennhurst cannot be an appropriate setting in which to provide habilitation." (612 F.2d 84 at 114 (3rd Cir.)). In remanding to this Court, the Court of Appeals directed that an individual hearing should be held for any Pennhurst resident who contends that the living arrangements and services available at Pennhurst are more beneficial to his or her habilitation than those made available in the community.

In light of the Third Circuit's opinion, this Court established an impartial hearing procedure and appointed a Hearing Master who was directed to provide an individual hearing for any Pennhurst resident who contended that his or her habilitation at Pennhurst would be more beneficial than that proposed in the community living arrangement. (Order of April 24, 1980).

This Court's Orders provide that the Special Master and the Hearing Master shall be compensated by the Commonwealth defendants (Orders of March 17, 1978; July 27, 1978; April 24, 1980; and June 10, 1980). The funds required for the operation of the Masters' offices are costs of litigation under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 53 and 54 and were assessed against one of the losing parties b...