Nikolao v. Lyon

• Decision Date: 07 November 2017
• Docket Number: No. 17-1367,17-1367
• Parties: Tara NIKOLAO, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Nick LYON, individually and in his official capacity as Director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services; Wayne County Department of Health, Veterans, and Community Wellness, Dr. Mouhanad Hammami, individually and in his official capacity as Director of the Wayne County Department of Health, Veterans, and Community Wellness, and Carol Austerberry, individually and in her official capacity as Division Director and Deputy Health Officer of the Wayne County Department of Health, Veterans, and Community Wellness. Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

875 F.3d 310

Tara NIKOLAO, Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.Nick LYON, individually and in his official capacity as Director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services; Wayne County Department of Health, Veterans, and Community Wellness, Dr. Mouhanad Hammami, individually and in his official capacity as Director of the Wayne County Department of Health, Veterans, and Community Wellness, and Carol Austerberry, individually and in her official capacity as Division Director and Deputy Health Officer of the Wayne County Department of Health, Veterans, and Community Wellness. Defendants-Appellees.

No. 17-1367

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued: October 12, 2017

Decided and Filed: November 7, 2017

Rehearing En Banc Denied December 14, 2017^*

ARGUED: Kate Oliveri, THOMAS MORE LAW CENTER, Ann Arbor, Michigan, for Appellant. Darrin F. Fowler, OFFICE OF THE MICHIGAN ATTORNEY GENERAL, Lansing, Michigan, for Appellee Nick Lyon. Davidde A. Stella, WAYNE COUNTY CORPORATION COUNSEL, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellees Wayne County, Hammami, and Austerberry. ON BRIEF: Kate Oliveri, Brandon Bolling, THOMAS MORE LAW CENTER, Ann Arbor, Michigan, for Appellant. Darrin F. Fowler, Mark A. Gabrielse, OFFICE OF THE MICHIGAN ATTORNEY GENERAL, Lansing, Michigan, for Appellee Nick Lyon. Davidde A. Stella, WAYNE COUNTY CORPORATION COUNSEL, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellees Wayne County, Hammami, and Austerberry.

Before: SUHRHEINRICH, GRIFFIN, and KETHLEDGE, Circuit Judges.

SUHRHEINRICH, J., delivered the opinion of the court in which GRIFFIN, J., joined, and KETHLEDGE, J., joined in the result. KETHLEDGE, J. (pg. 320), delivered a separate opinion concurring in the judgment.

SUHRHEINRICH, Circuit Judge.

The state of Michigan mandates that school-age children be vaccinated prior to entering the public school system. It also offers exemptions from this requirement for certain medical and nonmedical reasons. However, in order to get an exemption, a parent must first visit a local health department and explain the basis for his or her objection. A devout Catholic, Plaintiff-Appellant Tara Nikolao ("Nikolao") sought a vaccination waiver for her children for religious reasons. At the mandatory meeting, two Wayne County nurses tried to disabuse Nikolao of the notion that her Catholic faith prevented her from vaccinating her children, but Nikolao ultimately received the waiver. Nonetheless, she sued state and county officials for violations of the First Amendment's religion clauses. The district court granted Defendants' motion to dismiss. We affirm in part and vacate and remand in part.

I. BACKGROUND

The following facts are taken as true for purposes of Nikolao's appeal from the district court's dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6):

Michigan state law requires parents and guardians to vaccinate their children prior to entering public school. Mich. Comp. Laws § 333.9205. However, parents may seek exemptions from the mandatory vaccination law if they object "because of religious convictions or other objection to immunization." Id. § 333.9215(2). In December 2014, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services ("MDHHS") passed a rule requiring parents asking for vaccination exemptions on behalf of their children to visit a county health office to discuss their objections with a local health worker. Mich. Admin. Code r. 325.176(12) ("Certification Rule"). The health worker must certify that the parent has "received education on the risks of not receiving the vaccines being waived and the benefits of vaccination to the individual and the community." Id. Moreover, Michigan has published a series of "Waiver Notes" that contain responses to many common objections to vaccination. Local health workers are instructed to use these Notes and to give them to objecting parents for review. Waiver Notes are also available online to the general public.

In October 2015, Nikolao went to the Wayne County health department to get an exemption. As a devout Catholic, Nikolao maintains that she cannot use vaccines " ‘which have moral problems,’ such as those created from aborted fetal cells." R. 1, ID# 36. Further, she believes "the body is a temple and injecting it with chemicals that alter the person permanently violates the will of God." R. 1, ID# 37.

Nikolao met with two Wayne County nurses, Jane Does 1 and 2.¹ The nurses pressed Nikolao for more information. At one point, Jane Doe 2 issued her an ultimatum, telling Nikolao that she must "declare what religion she practices, explain her religious beliefs, and engage in a back and forth discussion ... concerning her religious objection." R. 1, ID# 51. She also told Nikolao that "there are no religions that have objections to vaccines." R. 1, ID# 51 (emphasis omitted). Finally, Nikolao was given the state's Religious Waiver Note—a document responding to common religious objections to vaccination—for review. The Religious Waiver Note contained a quote falsely attributed to Pope Benedict XVI stating that parents who chose not to vaccinate their children "would be in ‘more proximate cooperation with evil’ than those who gave their children the vaccines in question because of the life saving nature of vaccines." R. 1, ID# 28. In reality, Monsignor Jacques Suaudeau, a doctor at the Pontifical Academy for Life, made these statements. R. 1, ID# 30.

Nikolao did not yield to the nurses' pressure, and she was given her exemption. However, on the form noting her compliance with the Certification Rule, the nurses wrote that Nikolao had objected because she wanted her "child to have natural immunity." R. 11, Ex. 1. Nikolao wanted the form to report her religious objection specifically.

Nikolao filed this lawsuit against both state and county actors under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, challenging the treatment she received during the certification process. She claimed that the state and county violated her First Amendment religious rights by forcing her to take time off from work, travel to and from the health department office, undergo the nurses' questioning, and by failing to properly memorialize her objection. Nikolao also brought state law claims under the religious protections of the Michigan Constitution, see Mich. Const., Art. 1, § 4, as well as under Mich. Comp. Laws § 333.9215, which grants her the right to an exemption.

Nikolao named the following defendants: Nick Lyon ("Lyon"), Director of MDHHS; the Wayne County Department of Health ("WCDH"); Dr. Mouhanad Hammami, Director of WCDH; Carol Austerberry, Division Director and Deputy Health Officer of WCDH; and Jane Does 1 and 2. She argued that these defendants violated her First Amendment religious rights and sought injunctive relief that would remove the certification requirement and the Religious Waiver Note. Nikolao also sought nominal damages.

Lyon filed motions to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6). WCDH, Dr. Hammami, and Austerberry filed a motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). The district court did not address Lyon's Rule 12(b)(1) motion, but granted Defendants' motions to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6). The district court then declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the remaining state law claims. We affirm in part and vacate and remand in part.

II. ANALYSIS

A. Standing

In the lower court proceedings, Lyon challenged Nikolao's standing to pursue her federal constitutional claims. The district court did not consider those arguments, and instead dismissed the case on the merits. Nonetheless, "we are under an independent obligation to examine [our] own jurisdiction." Hamdi ex rel. Hamdi v. Napolitano , 620 F.3d 615, 620 (6th Cir. 2010) (quoting Baird v. Norton , 266 F.3d 408, 410 (6th Cir. 2001) ); see also Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Env't , 523 U.S. 83, 95, 118 S.Ct. 1003, 140 L.Ed.2d 210 (1998) (" ‘[E]very federal appellate court has a special obligation to ‘satisfy itself not only of its own jurisdiction, but also that of the lower courts in a cause under review.’ ' ") (quoting Mitchell v. Maurer , 293 U.S. 237, 244, 55 S.Ct. 162, 79 L.Ed. 338 (1934) ). "The requirement that jurisdiction be established as a threshold matter ‘spring[s] from the nature and limits of the judicial power of the United States' and is ‘inflexible and without exception.’ " Steel Co. , 523 U.S. at 94-95, 118 S.Ct. 1003 (quoting Mansfield, C. & L.M. Ry. Co. v. Swan , 111 U.S. 379, 382, 4 S.Ct. 510, 28 L.Ed. 462 (1884) ). As such, we address Nikolao's standing to pursue these claims as a threshold matter.

A federal court may only adjudicate "cases" and "controversies." U.S. Const. art. III, § 2, cl. 1. The standing doctrine is derived from the case or controversy requirement and obligates plaintiffs to show a "personal stake in the outcome of the controversy as to ... justify [the] exercise of the court's remedial powers on [their] behalf." Town of Chester, N.Y. v. Laroe Estates, Inc. , ––– U.S. ––––, 137 S.Ct. 1645, 1650, 198 L.Ed.2d 64 (2017) (quoting Simon v. E. Ky. Welfare Rights Org. , 426 U.S. 26, 38, 96 S.Ct. 1917, 48 L.Ed.2d 450 (1976) ). To establish standing, a litigant must show: (i) that she has suffered an "injury in fact"; (ii) that her injury was caused by the defendant's conduct; and (iii) that it is likely that the injury will be redressed by a favorable court decision. Lujan v. Defs. of Wildlife , 504 U.S. 555, 560-61, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992). Nikolao must "demonstrate standing for each claim [s]he seeks to press." Town of Chester , 137 S.Ct. at 1650 (quoting Davis v. Fed. Election Comm'n , 554 U.S. 724, 734, 128 S.Ct. 2759, 171 L.Ed.2d 737 (2008) ).

1. Free Exercise Clause Claim

The First Amendment states that "Congress shall make no law ... prohibiting the free exercise [of religion]." U.S. Const., amend. I. The Sixth Circuit has held that the Free Exercise Clause is "predicated on coercion." Mozert v. Hawkins Cty. Bd. of Educ. , 827 F.2d 1058, 1066 (6th Cir. 1987) (quoting ...