New Directions Treatment Serv. V. City of Reading
| Citation | 490 F.3d 293 |
| Decision Date | 15 June 2007 |
| Docket Number | No. 05-4353.,05-4353. |
| Parties | NEW DIRECTIONS TREATMENT SERVICES, on its own behalf and on behalf of its patients; Angel Doe; Dan Coe; Joseph Joe; Louis Loe; Carlos Poe; Peter Voe, on their own behalf and on behalf of the class, Appellants v. CITY OF READING; Vaughn Spencer, City Council President, in his official capacity, and City Council Members; Angel Figueroa; George Kerns; Michael D. Schorn; Dennis Sterner; Donna Reed; Jeffrey Waltman; Casey Ganster, In their individual and official capacities. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit |
Michael Churchill, Barbara E. Ransom (argued), Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, for Appellants.
Steven K. Ludwig (argued), Fox Rothschild, Philadelphia, PA, for Appellees.
Before: SMITH and ROTH, Circuit Judges, and IRENAS, District Judge.*
This case presents the familiar conflict between the legal principle of non-discrimination and the political principle of not-in-my-backyard. New Directions Treatment Services, a reputable and longstanding provider of methadone treatment, sought to locate a new facility in the City of Reading. A Pennsylvania statute that facially singles out methadone clinics gave the City of Reading the opportunity to vote to deny the permit. The City of Reading availed itself of that opportunity.
New Directions and individual methadone patients brought suit on constitutional and federal statutory grounds, raising both facial and as applied challenges to the statute. The City of Reading successfully moved for summary judgment against all of plaintiffs' claims. New Directions and the individual plaintiffs' appeal is before us.
New Directions Treatment Services ("NDTS") operates several methadone clinics throughout Pennsylvania, including one in West Reading.1 NDTS provides methadone maintenance for adults who have been addicted to heroin for at least a year. NDTS's Executive Director, Glen Cooper, contacted the City of Reading ("the City") to discuss opening an additional treatment center, as their West Reading facility had developed a waiting list for treatment. NDTS met with City officials on January 24, 2001, to discuss potential sites within the City. NDTS met with the City Council two months later to continue the discussion. Although NDTS had not yet obtained an operating permit from the City, NDTS signed a ten-year lease on a property located at 700 Lancaster Avenue. NDTS then submitted a zoning permit application.
The Lancaster Avenue property is located on a commercial highway that is interspersed with 40-75 private residences. The Berks Counseling Center previously occupied the site, providing treatment to patients with mental health problems and drug addictions. It did not provide methadone treatment.2 NDTS intended to serve "a couple hundred or so" methadone patients at the new facility. NDTS proposed a 4,000 square foot addition to the property to accommodate this increased usage. NDTS planned to operate the new facility from 5:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on weekdays, as well as more limited hours on weekends.
In 1999, Pennsylvania adopted 53 PA. CONS.STAT. ANN. § 10621, a zoning statute regulating locations of methadone treatment facilities.3 The statute provides that "a methadone treatment facility shall not be established or operated within 500 feet of an existing school, public playground, public park, residential housing area, child-care facility, church, meetinghouse or other actual place of regularly stated religious worship established prior to the proposed methadone treatment facility," unless, "by majority vote, the governing body for the municipality in which the proposed methadone treatment facility is to be located votes in favor of the issuance of an occupancy permit." Id. at § 10621(a)(1) and (b). The Lancaster Avenue property falls within the ambit of the statute. When NDTS inquired about sites not covered by the statute, a City zoning official referred them to three sites, including a cemetery and a heavy industrial area, all of which NDTS considered unsuitable.
The City notified NDTS that it would hold a hearing on January 14, 2002. Glen Cooper, the Executive Director of NDTS, appeared at the hearing and described NDTS's history and its proposed treatment center. He also answered questions from the City Council. NDTS acknowledged that it had experienced some loitering and littering at its West Reading facility. At a second hearing on February 28, 2002, the Council heard additional public comments. At a March 25, 2002 Council meeting, the City heard more comments and then unanimously voted against NDTS's application.
NDTS filed complaints with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission ("PHRC") and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity ("HUD"). The PHRC dismissed NDTS's complaint in a letter stating that, "the facts of the case [did] not establish that probable cause exist[ed] to credit the allegations of unlawful discrimination." NDTS and several individual plaintiffs proceeding in pseudonym filed suit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on March 25, 2004.
The complaint states four counts. First, NDTS alleged violations of the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees of Due Process and Equal Protection, stating that the Pennsylvania statute was unconstitutional on its face and as applied to the proposed Reading facility. Second, NDTS alleged that the statute, both facially and as applied, violates § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. 29 U.S.C. § 794. Third, NDTS alleged that the statute, both facially and as applied, violates Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"). 42 U.S.C. § 12132. Fourth, NDTS alleged that the statute, both facially and as applied, contravenes the federal scheme for regulation of methadone treatment and is therefore preempted. NDTS sought declaratory and injunctive relief for harm resulting from the City's purportedly discriminatory action. Individual plaintiff methadone users also sought damages.
The City moved on September 3, 2004 to dismiss individual City officials on the grounds of common law quasi-judicial immunity and qualified immunity. See FED. R.Civ.P. 12(c). The District Court granted the motion on October 17, 2004. NDTS does not appeal this decision.
The City moved for partial summary judgment with respect to the fourth count of the complaint, in which NDTS argued on Supremacy Clause grounds that the statute was preempted by federal law. The District Court granted the motion and dismissed the fourth count on October 15, 2004. NDTS does not appeal this decision.
NDTS and the individual plaintiffs filed the complaint as a class action and moved to certify the class on September 27, 2004, as "all persons residing in the City of Reading and its surrounding community who have been, are currently, or will be at risk of being on the waiting list to receive methadone treatment; and, all opiate-dependant residents of the City of Reading and its surrounding community who have needed, now need or in the future may need methadone treatment." See FED. R.CIV.P. 23(b)(2). The District Court denied the motion without prejudice, reasoning that the Court lacked adequate information to determine if the individual plaintiffs could adequately represent the class.
The City moved for summary judgment. NDTS filed a cross-motion for partial summary judgment on their claims against the validity of the statute. The District Court granted the City's motion in its entirety and denied NDTS's cross-motion on August 22, 2005. NDTS timely appealed.
The District Court had jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331. We have jurisdiction over an appeal from the District Court's final order under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We review the grant of summary judgment de novo. Union Pac. R.R. v. Greentree Transp. Trucking Co., 293 F.3d 120 (3d Cir.2002). This Court has conclusively settled that the proprietors of a proposed methadone treatment facility have standing to seek relief both on their own behalf and on behalf of their clients under both the ADA and Rehabilitation Act. See Addiction Specialists, Inc. v. Twp. of Hampton, 411 F.3d 399, 405-08 (3d Cir.2005).
NDTS raises a myriad of issues on appeal. They argue (1) that 53 PA. CONS. STAT. ANN. § 10621 facially violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the ADA, and the Rehabilitation Act, (2) that the individual plaintiffs have standing to make out ADA and Rehabilitation Act challenges, (3) that the City violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the ADA, and the Rehabilitation Act by denying NDTS a permit, and (4) that the District Court abused its discretion by denying the motion for class certification.
1. Whether 53 PA. CONS.STAT. ANN. § 10621 facially violates the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act
NDTS and the individual plaintiffs argue that 53 PA. CONS.STAT. ANN. § 10621 facially violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the ADA, and the Rehabilitation Act. The District Court did not engage in a detailed analysis of the statute's validity under either Title II of the ADA or the Rehabilitation Act. Rather, the Court focused on the Equal Protection inquiry.4 However these inquiries are analytically distinct and must be approached accordingly.5
The principal difference between the equal protection and the ADA inquiry is that, in an as applied or facial equal protection challenge, the plaintiff bears the burden of negating all conceivable rational justifications for the allegedly discriminatory action or statute, Board of Trustees of the Univ. of Alabama v. Garrett, 531 U.S. 356, 367, 121 S.Ct. 955, 148 L.Ed.2d 866 (2001), whereas to make out a claim under the ADA, the plaintiff need only show that intentional discrimination was the ...
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