Hoffman v. Hunt

• Citation: 923 F. Supp. 791
• Decision Date: 17 April 1996
• Docket Number: No. 3:93-CV-393-P.,3:93-CV-393-P.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of North Carolina
• Parties: Sharon HOFFMAN, Trudie Matthews, Diane Hoefling, Rev. Ronnie Wallace, and Rev. John Bradley, Plaintiffs, v. James B. HUNT, and The State of North Carolina, Defendants, The United States of America, Intervenor.

923 F. Supp. 791

Sharon HOFFMAN, Trudie Matthews, Diane Hoefling, Rev. Ronnie Wallace, and Rev. John Bradley, Plaintiffs, v. James B. HUNT, and The State of North Carolina, Defendants, The United States of America, Intervenor.

No. 3:93-CV-393-P.

United States District Court, W.D. North Carolina, Charlotte Division.

April 1, 1996.

As Amended April 17, 1996.

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Raymond A. Warren, Charlotte, NC, for plaintiffs.

Benjamin W. Bull, American Center for Law and Justice, Phoenix, AZ.

Samuel A. Wilson III, W. David Thurman, Bush, Thurman & Wilson, P.A., Charlotte, NC.

David F. Hoke, N.C. Department of Justice, Raleigh, NC, Ann Reed, NC Department of Justice, Raleigh, NC, for defendants.

James M. Sullivan, U.S. Attorney's Office, Charlotte, NC, Neil H. Koslowe, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Civil Division, Washington, DC, for Intervenor.

AMENDED^* MEMORANDUM OF DECISION & ORDER

ROBERT D. POTTER, Senior District Judge.

THIS MATTER is before the Court on Plaintiffs' Complaint, filed December 6, 1993, praying for a Declaratory Judgment, a temporary restraining order, and a preliminary injunction (document # 1).

I. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The Plaintiffs' Complaint challenged the constitutionality of N.C.G.S. § 14-277.4, a statute which criminalizes certain forms of civil protest at health care facilities.

On December 29, 1993, Defendants filed Motions to Dismiss for Plaintiff's lack of standing, failure to state a claim, lack of subject matter jurisdiction, and alternatively, to abstain (document # 11). After oral argument was had on January 14, 1994, the Court in Hoffman v. Hunt, 845 F.Supp. 340 (W.D.N.C.1994), denied the Plaintiffs' application for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction. The Court determined that declaratory relief was more appropriate than preliminary injunction because it involved the most minimal intrusion possible into the State's constitutionally recognized province of enforcing the criminal law, and ordered Defendants to file their answers, which they did on March 4, 1994 (document # 19). The Court, in that Order, also denied the State Defendants' Rule 12(b)(6) Motions, and preliminarily found the statute overbroad and vague. The Court further found that the Plaintiffs had constitutional standing and stated a claim. The Court found that Section 14-277.4 has a deterrent effect on Plaintiffs' free exercise of their First Amendment rights produced by fear of prosecution for violating the statute. The Court further found that the Plaintiffs have a personal stake in this action because they are persons who wish to freely protest abortions and educate others to their views. The Court further held that the Plaintiffs suffered actual harm because of a credible threat of prosecution. Plaintiffs' complaint makes clear they would be conducting the First Amendment activity but for the genuine threat of enforcement of the disputed state statute by asserting their own rights to free speech. The Court declined to abstain because there is ambiguity of state law that gives rise to injuries of constitutional proportions and because the Court should rule so as to alleviate any concern about the Plaintiffs' infringement of state law.

On May 26, 1994, the President of the United States signed into law the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994 ("FACE"), Pub.L. No. 103-259, 108 Stat. 694, codified as 18 U.S.C. § 248. Section 248(c)(3) of that Act authorized action by the State Attorney General in the name of the State.

Consequently, on June 15, 1994, Plaintiffs moved for leave to file an amended complaint to add a new cause of action challenging the constitutionality of FACE because of the additional fear from the threat of enforcement of FACE by Defendant State of North Carolina and the Attorney General of the United States (See Motion to Amend (document # 31) and Amended Complaint (document # 35) and Michael Matthews' Affidavit (document # 68)). Leave was granted by this Court on July 13, 1994 (document # 34) and the amended complaint was filed July 19, 1994 (document # 35). The Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction was filed July 28, 1994 (document # 36) and will be ruled on in this Order.

On August 10, 1994, the State Defendants filed a "Motion to Hold Plaintiffs' Motion for Injunctive Relief in Abeyance" (document # 47) pending resolution of the issues in American Life League, et al. v. Reno, et al. which at that time was pending before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. (That case was decided by the Fourth Circuit on February 13, 1995, and is reported at 47 F.3d 642 (4th Cir.1995)). The petition for certiorari was denied by the Supreme Court on October 2, 1995.

On August 25, 1994, the United States of America filed a Motion to Intervene and a Motion to Stay ruling on Preliminary Injunction pending decision in American Life League, et al. v. Reno (document # 49). On October 5, 1994 this Court granted the United States' Motion to Intervene as a defendant (document # 55), and on November 29, 1994 this Court filed an Order granting the United States' Motion to Stay Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction pending resolution of American Life League, et al. v. Reno (document # 60). The Order granting the Motion to Stay was vacated by Order filed October 17, 1995, and the parties were directed to file briefs by November 17, 1995 as to the effect, if any, of the decision in United States v. Lopez, ___ U.S. ___, 115 S.Ct. 1624, 131 L.Ed.2d 626 (1995) upon Congress' authority to enact FACE on the grounds that it rationally concluded that the regulated activity affects interstate commerce (document # 70).

On March 6, 1995, the State Defendants moved to dismiss the Plaintiffs' Complaint regarding FACE and for summary judgment in their favor regarding N.C.G.S. § 14-277.4 pursuant to Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (document # 61). An evidentiary hearing was held as to the State statute on February 2, 1996.

The matters now before the Court and to be decided in this Order are:

1. Declaratory Judgment as to the constitutionality of N.C.G.S. § 14-277.4;

2. Declaratory Judgment as to the constitutionality of 18 U.S.C. § 248;

3. The outstanding Motion (document # 61-1) by the State Defendants to Dismiss the Plaintiffs' Complaint as to FACE and the State Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment (document # 61-2) in their favor as to N.C.G.S. § 14-277.4;

4. Motion by the United States (document # 72) to Dismiss the claim in Plaintiffs' amended complaint challenging the constitutionality of 18 U.S.C. § 248; and

5. Plaintiffs' prayer for a permanent injunction against enforcement of N.C.G.S. § 14-277.4 and 18 U.S.C. § 248.

The Court notes that the Plaintiffs filed affidavits to support their position, but the Defendants did not file any affidavits or produce any evidence at the evidentiary hearing. Because the Court has not excluded Plaintiffs' affidavits and has held an evidentiary hearing, the Court will consider the Plaintiffs' affidavits and the evidence produced by the Plaintiffs at the evidentiary hearing and will treat the Motion to Dismiss as a Motion for Summary Judgment, pursuant to Rule 12(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. This Court will dispose of the Motion as provided in Rule 56.

In this Court's opinion in Hoffman v. Hunt, 845 F.Supp. 340 (W.D.N.C.1994) the Court denied the State Defendants' Motion to Dismiss for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6) and found that the complaint stated a claim for a first amendment overbreadth challenge sufficient to overcome a motion to dismiss. The Court also preliminarily found the statute sufficiently vague to overcome a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim and consequently denied that motion, as well as the Defendants' motions to abstain and to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. In the same opinion the Court denied Plaintiffs' application for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction and ordered the Defendants to file their answer as required by Rule 12(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

II. NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL STATUTE SECTION 14-277.4

A. The Evidence of Application of N.C.G.S. § 14-277.4.

The undisputed evidence of this case shows that Plaintiffs Sharon Hoffman, Trudie Matthews, Diane Hoefling, the Rev. Ronnie Wallace, and the Reverend John Bradley are opposed to abortion for religious, moral, and scientific reasons.¹ By reason of that opposition, the Plaintiffs have frequently exercised their First Amendment right to protest in front of health care facilities that perform abortions. During these protests, police officers for the City of Charlotte have relied upon North Carolina's law governing the obstruction of health care facilities to regulate the Plaintiffs' activities as set forth below.

The Plaintiffs' affidavits describe how picketers have been threatened with arrest. Michael Matthews affirms that on February 11, 1995, he was threatened with arrest for distributing literature at an abortion clinic because the police officer on duty interpreted the state statute as prohibiting those activities. He further affirms that on March 18, 1995 he was advised by police officers picketers could not preach or counsel while there was pro-life picketing occurring, and that to avoid arrest the picketers were required to put down their picket signs while others continued to preach and counsel. (See pp. 1 & 2 of Matthews Aff.) (document # 68).

The affidavits describe confusion about the meaning of the statute among the police. Karen Graham's affidavit (document # 67) affirms that she has personally been at the location of abortion facilities in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area on approximately 15 different occasions and has encountered the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department who are routinely called to the scene. She further affirms that there are four main abortion facilities in the...