Newman v. Piggie Park Enterprises, Inc., Civ. A. No. AC-1605.

• Decision Date: 28 July 1966
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. AC-1605.
• Citation: Newman v. Piggie Park Enterprises, Inc., 256 F.Supp. 941 (D. S.C. 1966)
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of South Carolina
• Parties: Anne P. NEWMAN, Sharon W. Neal and John Mungin, Plaintiffs, v. PIGGIE PARK ENTERPRISES, INC., a Corporation, and L. Maurice Bessinger, Defendants.

256 F. Supp. 941

Anne P. NEWMAN, Sharon W. Neal and John Mungin, Plaintiffs, v. PIGGIE PARK ENTERPRISES, INC., a Corporation, and L. Maurice Bessinger, Defendants.

Civ. A. No. AC-1605.

United States District Court D. South Carolina, Columbia Division.

July 28, 1966.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Matthew J. Perry, Columbia, S. C., Jack Greenberg, New York City, for plaintiffs.

Samuel B. Ray, Jr., Barnwell, S. C., for defendants.

ORDER

SIMONS, District Judge.

This suit was commenced December 18, 1964 by plaintiffs, who are Negro citizens and residents of South Carolina and of the United States, on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated, pursuant to Rule 23(a) (3) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Jurisdiction of this court is expressly conferred by Title II, Section 207 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. Section 2000a-6.¹

The gravamen of plaintiffs' complaint is that corporate defendant operates several restaurants in Columbia and elsewhere in South Carolina which are places of public accommodation within the purview of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; and that defendant violated said Act by denying service to plaintiffs at certain of its restaurants on July 3rd and August 12th, 1964 solely upon the ground that they were Negroes. The complaint further specifically alleges that in their restaurants defendants serve and offer to serve interstate travelers; that a substantial portion of the goods which they serve move in interstate commerce; and that defendants' operations affect commerce between the states. Plaintiffs ask that defendants be temporarily and permanently enjoined from discriminating against plaintiffs and the class of persons they represent upon the ground of race, color, religion and national origin.

Defendants admit jurisdiction of the court under Section 2000a-6, supra, generally deny the material allegations of plaintiffs' complaint, and specifically deny the allegations of the complaint which allege that their establishments are places of public accommodation as defined in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Although defendants concede that they cater to white trade only and refuse to serve members of the Negro race at their restaurants for on-the-premises consumption of food, they stoutly maintain that they do not come within the coverage of Section 2000a(b) (2) and (c) (2) of the Act, infra note 2, because (1) they do not serve the public as required by the Act; (2) they are not principally engaged in selling food for consumption on the premises; (3) they do not serve or offer to serve interstate travelers; and (4) they do not serve food, a substantial portion of which has moved in commerce.

Defendants further contend that all foodstuffs served by them which are processed in this state, including cattle and hogs slaughtered in South Carolina, although shipped in commerce from another State to this State, cannot be considered as moving in interstate commerce under the Act; that the Act denies defendants "due process of law and/or equal protection of the law" as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment; that the phrase "substantial portion of the food which it serves * * * has moved in commerce" is so vague and indefinite as to be impossible to determine whether a business operation comes within the Act; and further, that the Act violates defendants' "property right and right of liberty protected by the Fifth Amendment."

Defendant Bessinger further contends that the Act violates his freedom of religion under the First Amendment "since his religious beliefs compel him to oppose any integration of the races whatever."

The constitutionality of the public accommodations section, Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. Section 2000a, has been fully considered and determined by the United States Supreme Court in Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States, et al., 379 U.S. 241, 85 S.Ct. 348, 13 L.Ed.2d 258 (1964); Katzenbach v. McClung, 379 U.S. 294, 85 S.Ct. 377, 13 L.Ed.2d 290 (1964); see also Willis v. Pickrick Restaurant, D.C., 231 F.Supp. 396 (1964), appeal dismissed, Maddox v. Willis, 382 U.S. 18, 86 S.Ct. 72, 15 L.Ed.2d 13 (1965).

The constitutional questions posed by defendants herein were before the Supreme Court in McClung and Atlanta Motel, supra, and were decided adversely to defendant's contentions. Consequently, defendant's defenses founded upon the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Fifth Amendment, and the Commerce Clause of the Constitution are found by the court to be without merit in view of the McClung and Atlanta Motel cases, supra. It is noted that in McClung, Atlanta Motel and Pickrick Restaurant the motel and restaurants involved were admittedly places of public accommodation under the Act, there being no factual issue as to whether they came within the purview of same. Neither was any question raised that the restaurants involved therein were not principally engaged in selling food for consumption on the premises. The sole consideration before the lower courts and the Supreme Court in those cases was the question of the constitutionality of the public accommodations provisions of the Act (Section 2000a).

Neither is the court impressed by defendant Bessinger's contention that the judicial enforcement of the public accommodations provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 upon which this suit is predicated violates the free exercise of his religious beliefs in contravention of the First Amendment to the Constitution. It is unquestioned that the First Amendment prohibits compulsion by law of any creed or the practice of any form of religion, but it also safeguards the free exercise of one's chosen religion. Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421, 82 S.Ct. 1261, 8 L.Ed.2d 601 (1962). The free exercise of one's beliefs, however, as distinguished from the absolute right to a belief, is subject to regulation when religious acts require accommodation to society. United States v. Ballard, 322 U.S. 78, 64 S.Ct. 882, 88 L.Ed. 1148 (1944) (Mails to defraud); Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145, 25 L.Ed. 244 (1878) (polygamy conviction); Prince v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158, 64 S.Ct. 438, 88 L.Ed. 645 (1943) (minor in company of ward distributing religious literature in violation of statute). Undoubtedly defendant Bessinger has a constitutional right to espouse the religious beliefs of his own choosing, however, he does not have the absolute right to exercise and practice such beliefs in utter disregard of the clear constitutional rights of other citizens. This court refuses to lend credence or support to his position that he has a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of the Negro race in his business establishments upon the ground that to do so would violate his sacred religious beliefs.

The sole question for determination under the circumstances of instant case is whether any or all of defendants' eating establishments are places of public accommodation within the meaning and purview of Section 201 of Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Section 2000a).² In arriving at this determination the court is primarily concerned with the following factual and legal questions, which will be considered in inverse order hereinafter: (1) Is corporate defendant's establishments, or any of them, "principally engaged in selling food for consumption on the premises;" (2) Does said defendant at its establishments serve or offer "to serve interstate travelers;" and (3) has "a substantial portion of the food which it serves, * * * or other products which it sells * * * moved in commerce"?

Should the court's answer to question #1 be in the affirmative, and either questions # 2 or # 3 in the alternative in the affirmative, then such of defendants' establishments are places of public accommodation within the purview of the Act, and plaintiffs are entitled to the requested relief as to these establishments.

The cause was heard by the court on April 4th and 5th, 1966. Subsequently excellent briefs and arguments have been filed by counsel for the parties. After a careful consideration of the evidence and the law and pursuant to Rule 52(a) of Federal Rules of Civil Procedure the court makes its findings of fact and conclusions of law.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Defendant Piggie Park Enterprises, Inc., hereinafter designated as Piggie Park, is a South Carolina corporation with its principal office in Columbia, South Carolina. Defendant L. Maurice Bessinger, hereinafter designated as Bessinger, is the principal stockholder and general manager of the corporate defendant.

2. Piggie Park owns, operates, or franchises six eating establishments specializing in Southern style barbecue which are located as follows:³ 1) Piggie Park No. 1, 1601 Charleston Highway, also being designated as U. S. Highways Nos. 21, 176 and 321 at the intersection of S. C. Highway No. 215, in West Columbia, South Carolina; 2) Piggie Park No. 2 on the Sumter Highway, also being designated as U. S. Highways Nos. 76 and 378 in Columbia, South Carolina; 3) Piggie Park No. 3 on the Camden Highway, also being designated as U. S. Highway No. 1, in Columbia, S. C.; 4) Piggie Park No. 4 on Broad Street Extension, which is also designated as U. S. Highways Nos. 76, 378 and 521 in Sumter, South Carolina; 5) Piggie Park No. 6 on Highway No. 291 By-Pass North, which connects U. S. Highways Nos. 25, 29, and Interstate Highways Nos. 85 and 385 in Greenville, South Carolina; and 6) Piggie Park No. 7, also known as "Little Joe's Sandwich Shop," at 1430 Main Street in Columbia, South Carolina. All of Piggie Park's eating places are of the drive-in type with the exception of Piggie Park No. 7 also known as "Little Joe's Sandwich Shop" in downtown Columbia. In order to be served at one of the drive-ins a customer drives upon the premises in his automobile and places his order through an intercom located on the teletray immediately adjacent to and left of...