Hall v. State

• Decision Date: 30 September 2013
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 12–00657–BAJ–RLB.
• Citation: 974 F.Supp.2d 957
• Parties: Kenneth HALL v. State of LOUISIANA, et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Louisiana

974 F.Supp.2d 957

Kenneth HALL

v.State of LOUISIANA, et al.

Civil Action No. 12–00657–BAJ–RLB.

United States District Court,

M.D. Louisiana.

Sept. 30, 2013.

Ronald Ray Johnson, Ron Johnson and Associates, Stephen M. Irving, Steve Irving LLC, Joel Gerard Porter, Baton Rouge, LA, for Kenneth Hall.

Patricia Hill Wilton, Angelique Duhon Freel, Jessica Marie Field Thornhill, Louisiana Department of Justice, William P. Bryan, III, Katherine Krupa Green, Attorney General's Office, Edmond Wade Shows, Elizabeth Everett, Grant Joseph Guillot, John Carroll Walsh, Shows, Cali, Berthelot & Walsh, LLP, Christina Berthelot Peck, Roedel, Parsons, Koch, Blache, Balhoff & McCollister, James L. Hilburn, Parish Attorney's Office, Douglas Gist Swenson, Office of the Attorney General,Paul H. Spaht, Kantrow, Spaht, Weaver & Blitzer, Mary E. Roper, Baton Rouge, LA, for State of Louisiana, et al.

RULING AND ORDER

BRIAN A. JACKSON, Chief Judge.

Before the Court is a FRCP 12(b)(6) Motion to Dismiss City Court of Baton Rouge (Doc. 55), filed by Defendants the City of Baton Rouge and the Parish of East Baton Rouge (collectively the “City/Parish”), seeking an order from this Court dismissing Plaintiff Kenneth Hall's (“Hall”) claims against Defendant the City Court of Baton Rouge.¹ Hall opposes the motion. (Doc. 59.) The City/Parish filed a memorandum in response to Hall's memorandum in opposition. (Doc. 118.) The motion was heard with oral argument. The Court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1331.

I. Background

Hall ² filed this lawsuit ³ pursuant to the Civil Rights Act of 1871, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 1983⁴ (“ Section 1983”), 1986; Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 1973; Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 ⁵, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 1973c; the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, U.S. CONST. amend. I; the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, U.S. CONST. amend. XIV, § 1; the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, U.S. CONST. amend. XV, § 1, and “the democratic principles of majority rule and individualist egalitarianism of the United States Constitution” ⁶ against Defendants the State of Louisiana, Governor Piyush Jindal ⁷, Attorney General James Caldwell ⁸, Secretary of State Tom Schedler ⁹, the City of Baton Rouge, the Parish of East Baton Rouge, the City Court of Baton Rouge, Mayor Melvin Holden ¹⁰, the Louisiana House of Representatives ¹¹, the Louisiana Senate ¹², Judge Laura Davis ¹³, Judge Suzan Ponder ¹⁴, and Judge Alex Wall.¹⁵ (Docs. 1, 13, 74, and 76.) Hall alleges that the current judicial election plan, enacted by the Louisiana State Legislature in 1993, dilutes and diminishes the voting rights of African American voters in the City of Baton Rouge, in violation of the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Hall further alleges that the judicial election plan, codified at La. R.S. § 1(4)(a)(b)(c), which divides the City of Baton Rouge into two election Sections (Sections 1 and 2) and five election Divisions (Divisions A, B, C, D, and E) ¹⁶, impermissibly dilutes the votes of African Americans, who now make up 54.3% of the total City population.¹⁷

According to Hall, the current Judicial Election Plan discriminates against African Americans because African American voters, who make up the majority of Section 1 and the City of Baton Rouge population, are allotted only two judges, while White voters, who make up the majority of Section 2 but a minority of the City of Baton Rouge population, are allotted three judges. Hall further alleges that the Defendants' refusal to reapportion the City Court of Baton Rouge judges and/or redraw the geographic boundaries of the Divisions in accordance with the City of Baton Rouge's 2010 Census demographic data is an intentional attempt to dilute the votes of African Americans.

Accordingly, Hall seeks a ruling and judgment declaring, inter alia, that the 1993 Judicial Election Plan violates: (1) the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech, made applicable to the States by the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment; (2) Hall's fundamental right to vote, as protected by the Fourteenth Amendment; (3) the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment; (4) the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment; (5) the Fifteenth Amendment; (6) Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965; and (7) the “democratic principles of majority rule and individualistic egalitarianism” related to the “one person, one vote” principle of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Further, Hall requests an injunction forbidding Defendants from enforcing the 1993 Judicial Election Plan, including enjoining Defendants from “calling, holding, supervising, or certifying” any future elections. Hall also seeks a ruling and judgment holding Defendants liable under Section 1983, and granting him attorney's fees, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988.

As to the instant motion, the City/Parish seeks an order from this Court dismissing Hall's claims against the City Court of Baton Rouge for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. The City/Parish argues that the City Court of Baton Rouge is not a juridical entity. Thus, it does not have the capacity to be sued, and Hall's claims against it must be dismissed.

Hall opposes the motion and argues that he had sufficiently stated a claim upon which relief can be granted because the City Court of Baton Rouge is a juridical entity with the capacity to be sued. According to Hall, the City Court of Baton Rouge is liable for violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 1973. Thus, his claims against it should not be dismissed.

II. Standard of Review

A Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (“Rule”) 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss tests the sufficiency of the complaint against the legal standard set forth in Rule 8, which requires “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a)(2). “To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’ ” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)). “Determining whether a complaint states a plausible claim for relief [is] ... a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense.” Id. at 679, 129 S.Ct. 1937. “[F]acial plausibility” exists “when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Id. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556, 127 S.Ct. 1955). Hence, the complaint need not set out “detailed factual allegations,” but something “more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action” is required. Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955.

Furthermore, the Supreme Court has noted that Rule 12(b)(6) requires dismissal whenever a claim is based on an invalid legal theory:

Nothing in Rule 12(b)(6) confines its sweep to claims of law which are obviously insupportable. On the contrary, if as a matter of law ‘it is clear that no relief could be granted under any set of facts that could be proved consistent with the allegations,’ ... a claim must be dismissed, without regard to whether it is based on an outlandish legal theory, or on a close but ultimately unavailing one.

Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 327, 109 S.Ct. 1827, 104 L.Ed.2d 338 (1989) (internal citations omitted). When a complaint fails to satisfy these principles, “this basic deficiency should be exposed at the point of minimum expenditure of time and money by the parties and the court.” Cuvillier v. Sullivan, 503 F.3d 397, 401 (5th Cir.2007) (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 558, 127 S.Ct. 1955).

III. Analysis

Rule 17(b) instructs that “[c]apacity to sue or be sued shall be determined ... by the law of the state in which the court is located ...” Fed.R.Civ.P. 17(b). Under Louisiana law, an entity must qualify as a “juridical person” to possess the capacity to be sued. See, e.g., Dugas v. City of Breaux Bridge Police Dep't, 757 So.2d 741, 743 (La.App. 3rd Cir.2000). A juridical person is “an entity to which the law attributes personality ...” La. Civ.Code Ann. art. 24.

In support of their motion, the City/Parish cites Griffith v. State of Louisiana, 808 F.Supp.2d 926 (E.D.La.2011), in which the District Court held that the Orleans Parish Juvenile Court is not a juridical person, and thus lacks the capacity to be sued. Id. at 934.

In her well reasoned opinion, Judge Helen G. Berrigan pointed to Roberts v. Sewerage & Water Bd. of New Orleans, 634 So.2d 341 (La.1994), in which the Louisiana Supreme Court set out a framework for determining whether an entity qualifies as a juridical person:

The important determination with respect to the juridical status or legal capacity of an entity is not its creator, nor its size, shape, or label. Rather the determination that must be made in each particular case is whether the entity can appropriately be regarded as an additional and separate government unit for the particular purpose at issue. In the absence of positive law to the contrary, a local government unit may be deemed to be a juridical person separate and distinct from other government entities, when the organic law grants it the legal capacity to function independently and not just as the agency or division of another governmental entity.

Id. at 346–347 (citations omitted). Accordingly, Judge Berrigan concluded that “where there is no constitutional or statutory authority for the entity to sue or be sued, that entity is without capacity under the Roberts analysis.” Griffith, 808...