Horizon Health Center v. Felicissimo
| Citation | 638 A.2d 1260,135 N.J. 126 |
| Parties | , 62 USLW 2648 HORIZON HEALTH CENTER, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Anthony J. FELICISSIMO, Helpers of God's Precious Infants, John Doe Picketers, and Jane Doe Picketers, Defendants-Appellants. |
| Decision Date | 06 April 1994 |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court (New Jersey) |
Richard J. Traynor, Morristown, argued the cause for appellants (Mr. Traynor, attorney; Michael Patrick Carroll, of counsel; Mr. Traynor and Mr. Carroll, on the brief).
Cynthia V. Fitzgerald, Jersey City, argued the cause for respondent (Chasan, Leyner, Tarrant & Lamparello, attorneys).
Andrea M. Silkowitz, Asst. Atty. Gen., argued the cause for amicus curiae, Atty. Gen. of New Jersey (Fred DeVesa, Acting Atty. Gen., attorney; Jack M. Sabatino, Asst. Atty. Gen., of counsel).
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
The Chancery Division issued a permanent injunction prohibiting a group of abortion protestors from conducting peaceful picketing on the public sidewalk in front of an abortion and family-planning clinic. The court's order also enjoined defendants from directing any obscene, abusive, or loud language toward the clinic's staff or patients. The Appellate Division upheld the restrictions. 263 N.J.Super. 200, 622 A.2d 891 (1993). We granted certification, 134 N.J. 480, 634 A.2d 527 (1993), to determine (1) whether the Chancery Division has the power to regulate expressional activities in a public forum absent violent or criminal conduct, and (2) whether the injunctive restrictions that the trial court imposed are permissible under the federal and State Constitutions. We now affirm so much of the judgment of the Appellate Division as holds that the trial court had the authority to issue an injunction, but we modify that judgment to tailor more narrowly the "manner" restrictions the injunction imposes and remand to the trial court for reconsideration of the "place" restrictions.
The Appellate Division's opinion sets forth the facts in considerable detail. We refer to so much of that court's recitation as bears on the issues before us.
Plaintiff, Horizon Health Center (Center), operates a non-profit family-planning clinic in three connected buildings at 706-14 Bergen Avenue, between Fairmount and Duncan Avenues, in Jersey City. The Center offers a variety of medical services including family planning, prenatal care, well-baby care, support and education groups, and first-trimester pregnancy terminations. 263 N.J.Super. at 204, 622 A.2d 891. Center physicians perform abortions only on Saturdays, conducting an average of twenty-four to twenty-eight procedures each Saturday. Also on Saturdays, in addition to the termination procedures, the Center conducts prenatal testing for women in the third trimester of their pregnancies and performs much of the laboratory work related to its family-planning services. Ibid. All patients using the Center's facilities on Saturdays enter the clinic through the same door on Bergen Avenue. Id. at 204-05, 622 A.2d 891.
In August 1990 members of defendant Helpers of God's Precious Infants (Helpers), an unincorporated group opposed to abortion, began holding prayer vigils on Saturdays on the opposite side of Bergen Avenue from the Center. In October 1990 the Helpers moved their activities to a location directly in front of the Center and began giving "sidewalk counselling" to potential abortion patients. Defendant Felicissimo, coordinator of the group, described sidewalk counselling as "approaching a woman entering the clinic to gently inform her of alternatives to abortion and the potential bad effects of abortion in an effort to change her mind." Id. at 205, 622 A.2d 891. Defendants' activities also included handing patients pamphlets containing pictures of bloody, dismembered fetuses, warning patients that "[t]here are murderers in there" who "tear the arms and legs off your babies," and urging staff members to "[s]top killing those babies." Ibid. During the period from August 1990 to October 1991 eight to fifteen people demonstrated actively outside the Center on Saturdays. In response to the Center's complaints, the Jersey City police occasionally instructed demonstrators not to block access to the Center. During that period, the Center neither requested nor received additional police protection nor did it seek judicial intervention.
On October 14, 1991, the Helpers informed the Jersey City Police Department that the group planned a ten-block march from St. Aedan's Roman Catholic Church to the Center for Saturday, October 19, 1991. The Helpers requested and obtained a commitment for a police escort. On Friday, October 18, 1991, an unidentified demonstrator entered the Center and created a disturbance by repeatedly telling a patient in the waiting room that the Center kills babies. As the Center staff escorted the demonstrator out, the demonstrator said she would be back the next day. Id. at 206, 622 A.2d 891.
Early in the morning of Saturday, October 19, 1991, Center personnel received information for the first time that the Helpers planned a mass demonstration in front of the Center that day. Initially, Center employees observed only the usual demonstrators outside, but they noticed later that the Jersey City police had erected yellow wooden barriers in the center of the twelve-foot sidewalk in front of the Clinic. More demonstrators began to gather outside the Center, and by nine-thirty that morning, at the height of the clinic's scheduled appointments, 120 to 140 demonstrators had arrived. Some of the demonstrators remained behind the police barricade. Others, however, stood in front of the barricade on the sidewalk. Still other demonstrators stood five deep in the street, forcing police to close the northbound lane of Bergen Avenue to all but bus traffic. Ibid.
The demonstrators held a large wooden crucifix and placards stating "Abortion Kills Children" and "Babies Killed at 710 Bergen Avenue." Id. at 206, 622 A.2d 891. The demonstrators also chanted, sang, and recited the rosary repeatedly in succession. Auxiliary Bishop David Arias of the Newark archdiocese and another priest led the demonstrators in their prayers, using a microphone and a portable speaker to amplify their voices electronically. The Center moved patients sitting in the waiting room to interior, windowless rooms to avoid the noise from outside, but staff and patients inside the Center could still hear the noise and prayers in the interior areas even after turning up the volume on their radios and television sets. Id. at 207, 622 A.2d 891.
Because the solid mass of demonstrators left no clear path from the street to the door of the clinic, Center personnel, wearing blue T-shirts and buttons reading "Escort," accompanied a number of patients through the throng so that they could make their way into the clinic. At least one patient left rather than brave the crowd. Other patients called the Center to complain that they could not get into the clinic. Overall, twenty-five of the forty-five women scheduled for abortions and three women scheduled for non-abortion services, including a high-risk patient in need of immediate diabetes testing, did not show up for their appointments on that Saturday. Ibid.
The Center's Executive Director, Marilyn Bennett, filed a complaint that Saturday morning on behalf of the Center, seeking to enjoin the activities of the unidentified Helpers and "John Doe" and "Jane Doe" picketers. The Chancery Division conducted an emergent ex parte hearing that same day. Based on testimony by Bennett and two law-enforcement officials, the court entered a temporary restraining order, restricting the activities of the Helpers and of all persons acting in concert with them to the sidewalk across the street from the Center. The order also prohibited the demonstrators from disrupting Center operations, from harassing Center personnel or patients, and from intentionally interfering with traffic into or out of the clinic. Id. at 208-09, 622 A.2d 891.
On October 25, 28, and 29, 1991, the Chancery Division conducted a plenary hearing. The trial court viewed a videotape of the October 19, 1991, demonstration, which the court found supported the testimony of Bennett, Center employees, and patients that the demonstrators had disrupted the normal functioning of the Center. Felicissimo, Bishop Arias, and other demonstrators insisted, however, that the demonstration had not interfered with clinic activities and that the demonstration had been "peaceful" and "prayerful."
On November 4, 1991, the trial court issued a letter opinion making the temporary restraints permanent. The letter opinion noted that the demonstrators had blocked ingress to the clinic and that the "sidewalk counselors" had acted "in such a manner as to harass patients or others from attempting to enter the Center's premises." Consequently, the court concluded that the demonstrators had prevented potential clients of the Center from exercising their right to receive health care generally and from exercising their privacy right to abortion specifically. The court determined, therefore, that it could place reasonable restraints on the demonstrators' activities.
Moreover, the trial court found that the noise of the demonstration had been "of such magnitude as to create a disturbance within the Center, and [had been] a source of harassment to the Center staff as well as the patients." Thus, the court concluded that the public interest in maintaining medical standards and in safeguarding health justified restrictions on the "loudness and magnitude of the prayer vigil * * *."
The trial court's letter opinion also indicated that unidentified demonstrators had trespassed on the Center's private property. Accordingly, the court determined that a restriction prohibiting such conduct was appropriate.
Finally, the trial court noted that the demonstration and the police barricade had interfered with access to the...
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