Reddix v. Lucky
| Decision Date | 28 March 1958 |
| Docket Number | No. 16688.,16688. |
| Citation | 252 F.2d 930 |
| Parties | Dr. John I. REDDIX, Appellant, v. Mrs. May LUCKY, Registrar of Voters, Ouachita Parish, Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
James Sharp, Jr., Monroe, La., for appellant.
Fred Fudickar, Jr., Albin P. Lassiter, Monroe, La., George M. Ponder, First Asst. Atty. Gen., Jack P. F. Gremillion, Atty. Gen., for respondent.
Before BORAH, TUTTLE, and CAMERON, Circuit Judges.
This is an appeal from a summary judgment in favor of the defendant, the Registrar of Voters of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, in an action for damages and for an injunction under the Constitution and the Civil Rights Statutes of the United States forbidding the abridgment of voting rights on account of race or color.
The complaint, filed by the appellant on behalf of himself and all other Negro voters of Ouachita Parish, which had been summarily challenged in April and May, 1956, construed most strongly in favor of the pleader, as it must be, makes substantially the following allegations:
The defendant was the duly appointed registrar of voters, acting officially as such; plaintiff was a Negro citizen and registered voter of the Parish; on April 26, 1956, plaintiff's right to remain on the rolls of voters was challenged,1 as was the right of 3,000 other Negroes during the period April 1 to May 12, 1956; plaintiff and 2500 of the other Negroes were disqualified and struck from the rolls as the result of this "purge of voters," all in violation of their constitutional rights; the challenge was conducted wholly on the basis of race; the defendant mailed more challenges than her office could accommodate and hundreds of Negroes never got into her office to answer the challenge within the short period allowed, although they tried to do so;2 the requirements of Section 133 as to reasonable investigation was not complied with; defendant did not give proper publication and notice in the newspaper, as required in Section 132; the last publication was on May 11th and the defendant closed her office on May 12th and refused to process any more Negroes thereafter; plaintiff went to the defendant's office on May 15th and offered to answer the challenge, but was refused by her on the basis that the books were closed;3 "because of the number of persons around her office daily trying to prove the correctness of their registration, plaintiff could not get in the office before the above mentioned date, even though he tried many times." The complaint alleged that the defendant by such of the purging acts as are attributable to her has violated the constitutional rights of the plaintiff; that "she has abridged his privileges sic and immunities as a citizen of the United States and has denied him equal protection of the law as provided by the fourteenth (14th) amendment to the Constitution of the United States; that defendant further denied him the right to vote in the City of Monroe, Mayor election on the 22nd day of May, 1956 and is presently denying him and the class he represent sic the above enumerated rights all because they are members of the Negro race and because his race has been in a precious sic condition of slavery, all in violation of the fifteenth (15) amendment of the Constitution of the United States."
The plaintiff sought a finding by the court that his removal from the rolls was illegal and void and an order setting aside this action, prayed an order restoring his name to the voters' list, prayed an injunction to prevent future challenges by or from defendant's office on the basis of race and prayed judgment for damages and for such other and further relief as warranted; he also prayed similar relief for the class which plaintiff purported to represent.
The plaintiff served written interrogatories on the defendant containing fifty-eight questions, many of which were relevant and germane to the allegations in the complaint.
The defendant filed a motion to dismiss for want of jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim on which relief could be granted. She also filed objections to the interrogatories on the general ground that they were so numerous and complex as to burden and harass the defendant; that they required defendant to make research and investigations and compile data from public records; that some called for opinions and the task was so hard that to answer them would place an undue burden and expense on the defendant.
The defendant then filed an affidavit which was countered by two affidavits by the plaintiff. Without requiring an answer to any of the interrogatories, and without ruling on the objections to them, the trial court treated the motion to dismiss together with the affidavit of defendant as a motion for summary judgment, as authorized in a proper case by Rule 12(b) F.R.C.P., 28 U.S.C.A. The court made detailed specific findings of fact, several of which were on disputed issues, and concluded that "from the pleadings and affidavits on file there are no genuine issues of material fact presented by this record," and entered a summary judgment for the defendant.
It is to be noted that the trial court did not grant the judgment on the ground that the complaint did not allege a claim on which relief could be granted or for want of jurisdiction. It may therefore be assumed that both the trial court and appellee, who does not attempt here to sustain the dismissal of the suit on any ground other than that relied on by the trial court, agree with the appellant that the complaint on its face alleges a claim which, if true, states a cause of action. Such an assumption seems clearly justified, for here the plaintiff charges that the defendant participated in a proceeding challenging him and 3,000 other Negroes as being illegally registered; that she failed to comply with the law as to such challenges and that she thus illegally struck the name of appellant and 2500 other Negroes from the voters' list solely on account of their race.
Whatever area of doubt remains as to the identification of other civil rights, there can be no doubt that the right to vote in any state election is guaranteed to every qualified citizen without regard to his race or color.
Congress has implemented the Fifteenth Amendment, as it is authorized to do by its second paragraph, by the adoption of the Act of May 31, 1870, c. 114, § 1, 16 Stat. 140, formerly codified at 8 U.S.C.A. § 31; now 42 U.S.C.A. § 1971. This statute provides:
Congress has also provided sanctions to prevent the interference by state officials with this right to vote. 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983 provides:
United States District Courts are expressly given jurisdiction over such actions by 28 U.S.C.A. § 1343, which provides in essential part:
It seems clear, therefore, that this complaint alleging that the defendant, acting in her official capacity, participated in an illegal challenge of plaintiff's right to vote, and, by her own illegal failure to comply with the state law respecting the processing of such a challenge, caused his name to be improperly struck from the voters' rolls, all of which acts by her were done solely because he was a member of the Negro race and in violation of specified provisions of the Constitution, asserted a claim upon which relief could be granted both in damages and for injunction. Chapman v. King, 5 Cir., 154 F.2d 460, certiorari denied 327 U.S. 800, 66 S.Ct. 905, 90 L.Ed. 1025. It is true that the complaint did not expressly state that the challenge as to him had been made by the defendant under the provisions of Section 132, supra, rather than upon the affidavit of two others under Section 133, supra. However, the complaint does explicitly assert that proper publication and notice in the newspaper and necessary delay was not allowed as provided by Section 132, and that the registrar closed her office on May 12 and "refused to process any more Negroes even though hundreds stood around the office and continued to come back for the purpose of protecting their rights to remain on the rolls;" and, of course, the alleged...
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Darby v. Daniel, Civ. A. 2748.
...Negro witnesses, of whom fifteen were placed upon the stand. Despite the principles last above quoted and such cases as Reddix v. Lucky, 5 Cir., 1958, 252 F.2d 930, 938, holding that "obviously the right of each voter depends upon the action taken with respect to his own case," we permitted......
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United States v. State of Mississippi, Civ. A. No. 3312.
...of showing qualification or lack of qualification on a case by case basis. It cannot be the subject of class action relief. Reddix v. Lucky, 5 Cir., 252 F. 2d 930. 38 The complaint states that the Court has jurisdiction "under 42 U.S.C. § 1971 (d), 28 U.S.C. § 1345, and 28 U.S.C. § 2281." N......
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Pinkard v. Pullman-Standard, a Div. of Pullman, Inc.
...surrounding the claims of individual class members, that case does not lend itself to treatment as a class action. Reddix v. Lucky, 252 F.2d 930 (5th Cir. 1958). Similarly, this court recently refused to reverse a district court which had denied class certification in Crawford v. Western El......
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Tex. Democratic Party v. Hughs
...Bell v. Southwell , 376 F.2d 659, 660 (5th Cir. 1967) (private cause of action under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1971, 1983 ); Reddix v. Lucky , 252 F.2d 930, 933-934 (5th Cir. 1958) (private cause of action under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1971, 1983 ); Common Cause/Georgia v. Billups , 406 F. Supp. 2d 1326, 1370-1372......