Payne v. Commonwealth Dept. of Corrections

• Decision Date: 29 April 2005
• Citation: 582 Pa. 375,871 A.2d 795
• Parties: John M. PAYNE; Paul Nolder; Frank Grazulis; Charles Lee; Richard Guy; All Others Similarly Situated v. COMMONWEALTH DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS; Martin F. Horn, Secretary; Honorable Edward G. Rendell, Governor; Robert Bitner, Chief Hearing Examiner Appeal of John M. Payne, Paul Nolder, Charles Lee and Richard Guy. John M. Payne; Paul Nolder; Frank Grazulis; Charles Lee; Richard Guy; All Others Similarly Situated, Appellees v. Commonwealth Department of Corrections; Martin F. Horn, Secretary; Honorable Edward G. Rendell, Governor; Robert Bitner, Chief Hearing Examiner, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

871 A.2d 795

582 Pa. 375

John M. PAYNE; Paul Nolder; Frank Grazulis; Charles Lee; Richard Guy; All Others Similarly Situated v. COMMONWEALTH DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS; Martin F. Horn, Secretary; Honorable Edward G. Rendell, Governor; Robert Bitner, Chief Hearing Examiner

Appeal of John M. Payne, Paul Nolder, Charles Lee and Richard Guy.

John M. Payne; Paul Nolder; Frank Grazulis; Charles Lee; Richard Guy; All Others Similarly Situated, Appellees v. Commonwealth Department of Corrections; Martin F. Horn, Secretary; Honorable Edward G. Rendell, Governor; Robert Bitner, Chief Hearing Examiner, Appellant.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued May 11, 2004.

Decided April 29, 2005.

Samuel C. Stretton, West Chester, for John M. Payne et al.

Victoria Sellitto Freimuth, Camp Hill, John G. Knorr, Harrisburg, D. Michael Fisher, Pittsburgh, for Dept. of Corrections, et al.

Before: CAPPY, C.J., CASTILLE, NIGRO, NEWMAN, SAYLOR, EAKIN and BAER, JJ.

OPINION

Chief Justice CAPPY.

These cross-appeals raise issues regarding the constitutionality of various provisions of the Prison Litigation Reform Act ("PLRA"), 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 6601-6608, Pennsylvania's Obscenity Law, 18 Pa.C.S. § 5903(a)(7)-(9), and administrative directive DC-ADM 803, which was promulgated by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Corrections ("Department") to govern inmate mail and incoming publications. The Commonwealth Court upheld the constitutionality of the challenged provisions, with the exception of those sections of the PLRA involving filing fees in connection with prison conditions litigation. For the reasons that follow, we affirm in part and reverse in part the order of the Commonwealth Court.

The record establishes that in May through August of 1998, the Department refused to deliver certain issues of the magazines Penthouse, High Society, and Black Video addressed to five prisoners housed in state correctional facilities ("Prisoners") on the ground that the magazines violated the obscenity provisions of DC-ADM 803. The Prisoners challenged the Department's disapproval of the publications through all levels of the administrative process, but did not prevail.

The Prisoners subsequently commenced this action by filing a five-count petition for review in the Commonwealth Court's original jurisdiction, requesting declaratory relief and a preliminary injunction. The Prisoners alleged, inter alia, that the statutory and administrative prohibitions on their access to the magazines violated their right to free speech guaranteed by the Pennsylvania Constitution. They further contended that the various provisions of the PLRA were unconstitutional on their face and as applied because they infringed on this Court's exclusive authority to prescribe rules of practice and procedure pursuant to Article V, Section 10(c) of the Pennsylvania Constitution. Finally, the Prisoners contended that the Department failed to lawfully promulgate DC-ADM 803 as a regulation.

In November of 1998, the Commonwealth Court denied the Prisoners' request for a preliminary injunction. By order dated August 28, 2000, the Commonwealth Court also denied the Prisoners' motion for certification as a class action, but directed that any relief obtained through the action shall be applied system-wide within the Department. The Prisoners subsequently filed a motion for partial summary judgment, and the Department filed a cross-motion for summary judgment on all counts.

On December 5, 2002, the Commonwealth Court granted each motion in part and denied each in part. Payne v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Corrections, 813 A.2d 918 (Pa.Cmwlth.Ct.2002). Specifically, the court ruled that Sections 6602(a) through (c) of the PLRA, which concern the filing fees to be paid in prison conditions litigation, conflict with Pa.R.C.P. 240(f) and infringe upon our Court's exclusive rulemaking authority. Accordingly, it granted summary judgment to the Prisoners on this claim, but provided that any relief shall be prospective in nature. The Commonwealth Court further dismissed as moot the count alleging that the Department failed to lawfully promulgate DC-ADM 803 as a regulation because the Department had since done so. As to the remaining counts of the petition for review, the Commonwealth Court granted the Department's cross-motion for summary judgment, finding no constitutional impediment in the challenged provisions.¹ Both the Prisoners and the Department have filed cross-appeals in this Court.² On appeal, we must determine whether the Commonwealth Court properly granted summary judgment to the respective parties. We keep in mind that an appellate court may reverse the entry of a summary judgment only where it finds that the lower court erred in concluding that the matter presented no genuine issue as to any material fact and that it is clear that the moving party was entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Phillips v. Cricket Lighters, 576 Pa. 644, 841 A.2d 1000, 1004 (2003). In making this assessment, we view the record in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, and all doubts as to the existence of a genuine issue of material fact must be resolved against the moving party. Id. As our inquiry involves solely questions of law, our review is de novo. Id. at 1005.

This Court recognizes that a legislative enactment enjoys the presumption of constitutionality under both the rules of statutory construction and the decisions of our Court. See 1 Pa.C.S. § 1922(3); Ieropoli v. AC&S Corp., 577 Pa. 138, 842 A.2d 919 (2004). The party challenging a legislative enactment bears a heavy burden to prove that it is unconstitutional. Id. at 928. A statute will only be declared unconstitutional if it clearly, palpably and plainly violates the constitution. Id. Any doubts are to be resolved in favor of a finding of constitutionality. 1 Pa.C.S. § 1922(3).

I.

We first address the Prisoners' challenges to the PLRA. We note that our General Assembly enacted the statute in 1998, modeling it after the federal Prison Litigation Reform Act enacted in 1995, P.L. 104-134, tit. Vii Stat. 1321 (1996). The federal statute is intended to promote administrative redress, to filter out groundless claims, and to foster better prepared litigation of prisoner claims. Booth v. Churner, 532 U.S. 731, 737, 121 S.Ct. 1819, 149 L.Ed.2d 958 (2001). To achieve such purpose, both the federal and Pennsylvania PLRA set forth guidelines to be followed in prison conditions litigation.³

Although we shall address the challenges to each subsection of the PLRA separately, we note that the Prisoners' primary argument is that the provisions violate our Court's rulemaking authority pursuant to Article V, Section 10(c) of the Pennsylvania Constitution. In 1968, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania adopted Article V of the Pennsylvania Constitution (the "Judiciary Article"), which provides for a unified judicial system. The Judiciary Article vests in the Supreme Court "general supervisory and administrative authority over all the courts," Pa. Const. art. V, § 10(a), and provides that

[t]he Supreme Court shall have the power to prescribe general rules governing practice, procedure and the conduct of all courts ... if such rules are consistent with this Constitution and neither abridge, enlarge nor modify the substantive rights of any litigant, nor affect the right of the General Assembly to determine the jurisdiction of any court or justice of the peace, nor suspend nor alter any statute of limitation or repose. All laws shall be suspended to the extent that they are inconsistent with rules prescribed under these provisions.

PA. CONST. art. V, § 10(c).⁴

This Court's power to establish rules of procedure for state courts is exclusive. Commonwealth v. Morris, 565 Pa. 1, 771 A.2d 721, 736 (2001). In the case of In re 42 Pa.C.S. § 1703, 482 Pa. 522, 394 A.2d 444 (1978), we expressly rejected the notion that the General Assembly exercises concurrent power in this regard. We explained that

[w]hile the separation of powers doctrine does not "contemplate total separation of [the] three ... branches of Government," Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, 104, 96 S.Ct. 612, 675, 46 L.Ed.2d 659 (1976), the existence of appropriate overlap between branches with respect to some functions of government does not mean that such overlap is appropriate with respect to all functions. The Pennsylvania Constitution grants the judiciary — and the judiciary alone — power over rule making.

Id. at 451. Although our power in this regard is exclusive, we do not trifle lightly with the means chosen by the Legislature to effectuate its desired end and suspend statutes only with great reluctance. In re Suspension of the Capital Unitary Review Act, 554 Pa. 625, 722 A.2d 676, 680 (1999). As a general proposition, we have struck statutes where they have been inconsistent with our procedural rules. Id.

Because this Court's rulemaking authority extends only to procedural law, the threshold inquiry in determining whether a particular statute violates Article V, Section 10(c) is whether the statute is procedural or substantive in nature. Commonwealth v. Morris, 771 A.2d at 737. The limitation placed on the legislature's power by Article V, Section 10(c) does not affect its ability to address the substantive law in a particular area. Id. The attempt to devise a universal principle for determining whether a provision is inherently procedural or substantive in nature, however, has met with little success in the history of our jurisprudence. Laudenberger v. Port Authority of Allegheny County, 496 Pa. 52, 436 A.2d 147, 150 (1981). As a general rule, substantive law is that part of the law which creates, defines and regulates rights, while procedural laws are those that address methods by which rights are enforced. Morris, 771 A.2d at 738 (citing Morabito's Auto Sales v. Commonwealth, Department of Transportation, 552 Pa. 291, 715 A.2d 384, 386 (1998)).

Keeping...