Lewis v. Wilson
| Decision Date | 29 March 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. 4:98CV-1610-SNL.,4:98CV-1610-SNL. |
| Parties | Mary E. LEWIS, Petitioner, v. Quentin WILSON, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Missouri |
Robert Herman, Partner, Schwartz and Herman, St. Louis, MO, for Mary E. Lewis, plaintiff.
Erwin O. Switzer, III, Partner, M. Steven Brown, Attorney General of Missouri, Assistant Attorney General, St. Louis, MO, for Quentin Wilson, in his official capacity as Director of Revenue of the State of Missouri, defendant.
This matter is before the Court on cross-motions for summary judgment by the parties. Petitioner seeks summary judgment that respondent, in his official capacity as Director of Revenue of the State of Missouri (petitioner or Director), violated her federal Constitutional rights by denying her application for a personalized "vanity" automobile license plate. Respondent seeks summary judgment that the First Amendment does not require the State of Missouri to issue the plate.
Courts have repeatedly recognized that summary judgment, like dismissal, is a harsh remedy that should be granted only when the moving party has established his right to judgment with such clarity as not to give rise to controversy. New England Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Null, 554 F.2d 896, 901 (8th Cir.1977). Summary judgment motions "can be a tool of great utility in removing factually insubstantial cases from crowded dockets, freeing courts' trial time for those that really do raise genuine issues of material fact." Mt. Pleasant v. Assoc. Elec. Coop., Inc., 838 F.2d 268, 273 (8th Cir.1988). But there must be absolutely "no genuine issue as to a material fact and the moving party [must be] entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Poller v. Columbia Broadcasting Sys., Inc., 368 U.S. 464, 467, 82 S.Ct. 486, 488, 7 L.Ed.2d 458 (1962).
In passing on a motion for summary judgment, the court must review the facts in a light most favorable to the party opposing the motion and give that party the benefit of any inferences that logically can be drawn from those facts. Buller v. Buechler, 706 F.2d 844, 846 (8th Cir.1983). The court is required to resolve all conflicts of evidence in favor of the nonmoving party. Robert Johnson Grain Co. v. Chem. Interchange Co., 541 F.2d 207, 210 (8th Cir.1976). With these principles in mind, the Court will now turn to the factual history of the case.
In Missouri, all vehicles must be registered with the Department of Revenue (DOR). To legally operate a vehicle on the roads, the owner must obtain a valid Missouri license plate and attach it to the vehicle. Every year, the owner must renew her license plate with the DOR. In order to renew, the owner must present the DOR with proof of financial responsibility, an emission/safety inspection certificate and proof of insurance. Once these items are presented, the license plate is renewed for the next year. The standard Missouri license plate is a green, white and blue plate with a configuration of six characters: three numbers and three letters with a space in between the first three and last three characters.
In 1979, the Missouri State Legislature enacted Revised Missouri Statute Section 301.144 which created the personalized (vanity) license plate program in the state of Missouri. Under the vanity plate program, individual vehicle owners are permitted to choose for themselves, within the six character limit, any letter and number configuration for their license plates. The DOR charges an initial premium of $150.00 to obtain the vanity plate, and an additional $15.00 per year to renew it. The only limitations placed on the vehicle owner's free choice in purchasing a vanity plate are that the DOR may issue no duplicate plates, and that "[n]o personalized license plates shall be issued containing any letters, numbers or combination of letters and numbers which are obscene, profane, inflammatory or contrary to public policy." Mo.Rev.Stat. § 301.144.2 (West 1999). The vanity plate program generates roughly $2-3 million annually in revenue for the State of Missouri.
Apparently, the DOR has in place a multi-tiered procedure by which it reviews applications for vanity plates.1 When the DOR receives an application, a clerk reviews it to determine whether the requested configuration is already taken or is on a list of impermissible configurations that have been denied in the past. This clerk also reviews the substance of the requested configuration, to determine whether the plate is "clearly and without question, obscene, profane, inflammatory or contrary to public policy." Affidavit of Teresa Tellman ¶ 13. If the clerk deems the configuration unacceptable for any of these reasons, she will then review any other configurations submitted by the applicant. If the applicant has submitted no other configurations, the clerk will return the application and fee with a letter explaining the reasons for denial. If other configurations are submitted, the clerk will review them in the same manner.
If the clerk approves the applicant's submitted configuration, she will then place that configuration on a list which is forwarded to a review committee. The review committee consists of Administrators of three bureaus within the DOR, including the Motor Vehicle Bureau, the Field Services Bureau, and the Alternative Funds Bureau. Each member of the review committee reviews the list of configurations, makes comments, and passes the list along to the next committee member. If the committee determines that a configuration is obscene, profane, inflammatory or contrary to public policy, it will inform the applicant that the requested configuration is denied. If the applicant has made a second choice, that configuration will go through the same review as the other plate. If the applicant made no second choice, the fee and application are returned. If the review committee finds that the requested configuration is not obscene, profane, inflammatory or contrary to public policy, the plate will be manufactured and issued to the applicant.
If the committee believes that the requested configuration is particularly problematic, the Director of the DOR may review the application along with a group known as the Motor Vehicle Policy Group. The Motor Vehicle Policy Group determines whether or not a plate should be issued with the requested configuration. If, after review with the Motor Vehicle Policy Group, the Director believes that the requested configuration is not obscene, profane, inflammatory or contrary to public policy and should be issued, a vanity plate bearing that configuration will be created and sent to the applicant. If the Director determines that the configuration should not be issued, the application will be denied.
From time to time, the DOR receives complaints regarding particular vanity plates that have been issued. When the DOR receives such a complaint, the General Counsel of the DOR reviews both the complaint and the configuration. The General Counsel then makes a decision as to whether or not to recall the plate because it violates the statute as being obscene, profane, inflammatory or contrary to public policy.
In June of 1986, the DOR issued petitioner a vanity plate bearing the words "ARYAN-1."2 In September of that year, the DOR received a complaint about the plate. The DOR then sent petitioner a letter stating that it would not issue motor vehicle license plates if the letters or symbols thereon are obscene, profane or constitute fighting words. The letter further stated that the word "ARYAN" on petitioner's license plate constituted a fighting word, and directed petitioner to surrender the plate. Petitioner appealed that decision to the Administrative Hearing Commission.
Upon reaching the Administrative Hearing Commission, the DOR changed its position that the word "ARYAN" constituted a fighting word. Instead, the DOR relied on an argument that the plate violated a state regulation that no plate would be issued which was profane, obscene, inflammatory or patently offensive or otherwise conflicting with an overriding public policy. Mo.Code Regs.Ann. tit. 12, § 10-23.100(6) (1986). The DOR took the position that the world "ARYAN" had been utilized by Adolf Hitler and the German Nazis during World War II to describe a so-called "master race," and to justify the extermination of a frighteningly large percentage of the world's Jewish population. For that reason, the DOR argued, the word conflicted with an overriding public policy. The Administrative Hearing Commission sustained the decision of the DOR, relying on Mo.Code Regs.Ann. tit. 12, § 10-23.100(6) (1986).
Petitioner then appealed that decision to the Missouri Court of Appeals, where she argued that the scope of the regulation was broader than permitted under the enabling statute. At that time, Mo.Rev.Stat. § 301.144 (West 1986) stated the following:
The director of revenue shall issue rules and regulations establishing the procedure for application for and issuance of the special personalized license plates and shall provide a deadline each year for the applications.... No two owners shall be issued identical plates and no plates shall be issued containing any profane or obscene word.
The Missouri Court of Appeals agreed with petitioner that the language of Section 301.144 was not broad enough to support a regulation which banned certain slogans from license plates because they were contrary to overriding public policy. The court ordered that the case be remanded to the Administrative Hearing Commission with directions to order the DOR to rescind its decision to revoke petitioner's license plate. See Carr v. Director of Revenue, 799 S.W.2d 124, 126 (Mo.Ct. App.1990).
In response to the Carr decision, the Missouri State Legislature amended the language of Section 301.144 to its current status. That...
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