National Audubon Society v. Davis

Decision Date30 November 2000
Docket NumberNo. C-98-4610-CAL.,C-98-4610-CAL.
Citation144 F.Supp.2d 1160
PartiesNATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY et al., Plaintiffs, v. Gray DAVIS et al., Defendants, and Protect Pets and Wildlife/Vote Yes on Proposition 4, et al., Defendant-Intervenors. Dan Glickman et al., Necessary Parties National Trappers Association Inc. et al., Plaintiff-Intervenors, v. Gray Davis et al., Defendants, and Protect Pets and Wildlife/Vote Yes on Proposition 4, et al., Defendant-Intervenors.
CourtU.S. District Court — Northern District of California

Clifford T. Lee, CA State Attorney General's Office, San Francisco, CA, for Pete Wilson, Douglas Wheeler, Jacqueline E. Schafer, California Department of Fish & Game, California Fish & Game Commission.

Charles M. O'Connor, U.S. Attorney's Office Environmental & Natural Resources Unit, San Fancisco, CA, Paul J. Boudreaux, Environmental & Natural Resources Section, Wildlife & Marine Resources Section, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, DC, for Dan Glickman, Gary Simmons, Bruce Babbit, Jamie Rappaport Clark, Anne Badgley, Robert Stanton.

Richard D. Gann, Marvin Morrow & Hunlock, LLP, San Diego, CA, George Hunlock, John Staley, Marvin Morrow & Hunlock, LLP, San Diego, CA, for National Trappers Ass'n Inc., California Trappers' Ass'n, Inc, Tim Wion, Christopher S. Brennan, Loyd E. Horn.

ORDER ON MOTIONS TO DISMISS AND FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

LEGGE, District Judge.

This action arises from the passage by California voters of Proposition 4 on November 3, 1998. Proposition 4 enacted California Fish & Game Code § 3003.1 which, broadly speaking, bans the use of certain traps and poisons to capture or kill wildlife in the state.

Five different groups of parties are now involved in this litigation over Proposition 4: The National Audubon Society and other groups with similar interests ("plaintiffs") brought this lawsuit against various California state officials and agencies (the "state defendants"). Plaintiffs contend that the new statute jeopardizes programs carried out by the federal government for the control of mammals, and that it will hence be detrimental to bird life. The original complaint also names several federal officials as necessary parties (the "federal parties"). The sponsors and other supporters of Proposition 4 intervened (the "sponsors"). Finally, the National Trappers Association and other groups and individuals with similar interests (the "trappers") intervened and filed a separate complaint.

The following motions are now before the court: Plaintiffs move for leave to amend their complaint, and also move for summary judgment on their complaint as amended. In turn, the state defendants and the sponsors oppose the motion to amend, and have each moved for summary judgment. The federal parties have filed responses to those various motions. The state defendants and the sponsors also move to dismiss the third amended complaint of the trappers.

All of the motions have been briefed, argued and submitted for decision. The court has reviewed the moving and opposing papers, the records submitted by the parties on their motions, the record of the case, and the applicable authorities. Because these motions present interrelated issues, the court concludes that they are best addressed in this single, comprehensive order. And it is important to note that all of the parties agree that Proposition 4 cannot be applied so as to preclude trapping activities by agencies of the federal government.

I.

Plaintiffs' motion to amend their complaint is governed by Rule 15(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which provides that at this stage of the case a party may amend "only by leave of court or by written consent of the adverse party; and leave shall be freely given when justice so requires." The rule expresses a policy favoring the determination of cases on their merits, and thus leave to amend is freely given unless the opposing party shows bad faith, undue prejudice, or a dilatory motive by the moving parties. See Foman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 178, 182, 83 S.Ct. 227, 9 L.Ed.2d 222 (1962); FilmTec Corp. v. Hydranautics, 67 F.3d 931, 935 (Fed.Cir.1995); DCD Programs, Ltd. v. Leighton, 833 F.2d 183, 186 (9th Cir.1987). In addition, "Amendments seeking to add claims are to be granted more freely than amendments adding parties." Union Pac. R.R. Co. v. Nevada Power Co., 950 F.2d 1429, 1432 (9th Cir.1991).

The motions to dismiss the trappers' complaint are governed by Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, pursuant to which the court must accept all allegations of material fact stated in the complaint as true, and construe the allegations in a light most favorable to them. See Love v. United States, 915 F.2d 1242, 1245 (9th Cir.1989). The complaint will not be dismissed unless it appears that the trappers can prove no set of facts in support of their claims that would entitle them to relief. See Wyler Summit Partnership v. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., 135 F.3d 658, 661 (9th Cir.1998).

The motions for summary judgment on plaintiffs' complaint are governed by Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which provides that a motion for summary judgment may be granted if there is no genuine issue of material fact. The parties have not identified any material factual disputes — indeed, they assert that there are none — so the court resolves the issues presented by those motions as ones of law.

II.
A.

Plaintiffs are five non-profit organizations and their members, led by the National Audubon Society, who support the protection and conservation of bird life that is threatened with habitat loss or extinction. It is uncontested that plaintiffs' members use wetlands throughout the United States, California, and the San Francisco Bay Area, for bird and wildlife observation, nature photography, aesthetic enjoyment, and other scientific, educational and recreational activities (including hunting in the case of plaintiff California Waterfowl Association). Some members also help to manage and finance related conservation efforts.

Proposition 4 outlaws the use of certain poisons and traps to capture or kill mammals. Specifically, it adds new Fish and Game Code provisions, one of which states that:

[I]t is unlawful for any person, including employees of the federal, state, county or municipal government to use or authorize the use of any leg-hold trap, padded or otherwise, to capture any game mammal, furbearing mammal, non-game mammal, protected mammal, or any dog or cat.

Cal. Fish & Game Code § 3003.1(c). There is only one stated exception to this blanket prohibition; the code section does not apply to federal, state, county, or municipal government employees or their duly authorized agents in the extraordinary case where the otherwise prohibited padded-jaw leg-hold trap is the only method available to protect human health or safety.

Id. (emphasis added).

Subsection 3003.1(c) is the only part of Proposition 4 that is challenged by plaintiffs. Their underlying concern is that if fewer predator mammals are trapped, more will prey on bird life.

The court notes the unusual positions of the parties in this environmental litigation. Most such litigation pits environmentalists against industry or government. Here we have an unusual alignment of birds versus mammals. That is, two competing groups of environmentalists are in court to protect their respective wildlife constituents against one another.

B.

Proposition 4 also bans the use of body-gripping traps "for the purposes of recreation or commerce in fur." Cal. Fish & Game Code § 3003.1(a). And it further bans the purchase, sale, or exchange of raw fur from animals trapped in California using body-gripping traps. Cal. Fish & Game Code § 3003.1(b). The trappers are allegedly affected by those sections of the new law. Prior to the passage of Proposition 4, the trappers and their members engaged in trapping for recreation, for interstate commerce in fur, or to protect private property and endangered animals. Their activities included trapping conducted under contracts with state, local, and federal governments, in the protection of everything from levees, to livestock, to the California least tern.

C.

Two days after the passage of Proposition 4, the California Department of Fish and Game ("DFG") issued a press release that described the impact of Proposition 4. It announced that the new law "makes it generally illegal to trap fur-bearing and non-game animals with commonly used traps and to buy, sell, or exchange the fur of mammals that have been captured with these traps." The press release further stated that,

DFG and other governmental agencies will now have to use traps other than leg-hold traps to control predators, including those that prey on threatened and endangered species in California. Individuals affected by Proposition 4 should follow its provisions where they actually conflict with existing regulations on trapping.

In response, many individuals stopped using leg-hold traps, including individual trapper plaintiffs and other members of the trapper organizations.

Since that press release two years ago,...

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