Robbins v. Reagan, Civ. A. No. 85-1963.
| Decision Date | 19 August 1985 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 85-1963. |
| Citation | 616 F. Supp. 1259 |
| Parties | Robert ROBBINS, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Ronald REAGAN, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Columbia |
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
S. William Livingston, Jr., Peter J. Nickles, Laird Hart, and Charles G. Geyh of Covington & Burling, Florence Wagman Roisman of Roisman, Reno & Cavanaugh, Washington, D.C., for plaintiffs (Frank Molony and Suzanne Hutchings, Law Student Interns, on brief).
Edith S. Marshall, Asst. U.S. Atty. (Joseph E. diGenova, U.S. Atty., Royce C. Lamberth, Asst. U.S. Atty., and Ellen Dickstein Kominers, Office of Gen. Counsel, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C., on brief), Mark E. Nagle and John Bates, Asst. U.S. Attys., Darrel J. Grinstead, Office of Gen. Counsel, Dept. of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C., for defendants.
Michael S. Helfer and Charles E. Davidow of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, Washington, D.C., court-appointed, amici curiae until the Court's remand to the agency for a reasoned analysis of its decision.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
1262 INTRODUCTION
1263 BACKGROUND
1263 A. The Parties
1263 B. The Government's Involvement with the Problems of the Homeless
and with the Shelter
1265 C. Events After the Heckler Statement
1267 D. The Remand to HHS for Subsequent Proceedings, and the Agency's
Final Decision.
1268 E. The Amended Complaint.
1268 THE COURT DISMISSES COUNTS FOUR, FIVE, AND SIX BECAUSE
THEY FAIL TO STATE CLAIMS UPON WHICH RELIEF MAY BE
GRANTED
1269 BECAUSE PLAINTIFFS HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO COMMENT ON
THE PROPOSED SHELTER CLOSING, THEY HAVE NOT BEEN DEPRIVED
OF PROPERTY WITHOUT DUE PROCESS OF LAW
1270 BECAUSE THE SHELTER RESIDENTS ARE NOT "TENANTS", THE
COURT MUST DISMISS COUNT TEN, WHICH CLAIMS A VIOLATION
OF D.C. EVICTION LAW
1271 THIS COURT LACKS JURISDICTION OVER PLAINTIFFS' COUNTS
THREE AND EIGHT, WHICH ARE BASED ON CONTRACT, BECAUSE
SUCH CLAIMS ARE COMMITTED TO THE EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION
OF THE CLAIMS COURT
1272 THE COURT MUST RULE FOR DEFENDANTS ON PLAINTIFFS' APA
CLAIMS BECAUSE DEFENDANTS' DECISION TO CLOSE THE SHELTER
AND SPEND $2.7 MILLION TO RELOCATE THE RESIDENTS IS
BASED ON A REASONED ANALYSIS
1273 A. This Court Has Jurisdiction Over Plaintiffs' APA Claims.
1274 B. Because There is Ample "Law to Apply" to Defendants' Decision
to Close the Shelter, that Decision is Reviewable Under the APA.
1276 C. The Defendants' July 31, 1985, Decision is Based on a Reasoned
Analysis, and Must be Sustained.
1279 CONCLUSION
INTRODUCTION
This case, which is before the Court on defendants' motion to dismiss or, in the alternative, for summary judgment, and on plaintiffs' motion for partial summary judgment, presents the issue of when the government may change its announced course of action based on somewhat changed circumstances. For the reasons stated herein, the Court grants defendants' motion, and enters judgment for defendants in this case.
The case concerns the future of a federally-owned building which is operated by some of the plaintiffs as a shelter for homeless persons. For various reasons, the government has now decided to close this shelter, despite a statement made last November by Secretary Heckler of the Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS") that the government would perform certain renovations on the building. The primary legal battleground for this dispute is found in the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA"), and the cases decided thereunder. As applied to the situation before the Court, that Act provides a narrow standard of judicial review. The government's decision in this case is based on a thoroughly reasoned analysis, and, most importantly, provides for the expenditure of up to $2.7 million to assist in the relocation of the shelter residents. For this reason, it cannot be said that the federal government has callously "turned its back" on the residents. As noted, the Court upholds the decision, which was made on July 31, 1985, after the Court remanded the case to HHS for further proceedings.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, within 30 days only the Court will entertain written applications to the Clerk, by way of a pleading, for the appointment of a Special Master for the purpose of ensuring that the federal government assists in locating proper health care and shelter providers and does what it has now promised, (as a result of this lawsuit). In this regard, the Court will use every power which it may have at its disposal in order that the residents of the Second and D Street, N.W., building are provided in other facilities with the resources they need to live as decent human beings so that they may receive treatment for their various problems, such as alcohol and drug addiction, and other mental health problems. The Court also realizes that these people need food and assistance to care for their nutritional deficiencies.
The Court recognizes that many of these people require counselling, job training, and have a myriad of other needs. Meanwhile, the Court is confident that Mr. Snyder, Ms. Fennelly, and the other leaders of CCVN will cooperate fully in this long overdue bold and prompt action to see that the residents of the dilapidated rat and vermin-infested building are transferred to appropriate facilities with dispatch and human kindness.
This effort will require governmental leadership from top to bottom, starting at the White House, in a multitude of disciplines that are involved. But the Court expects that the captains of industry, commerce, banking, hospitals, skilled nursing homes, and other health care providers, and the medical, psychiatric, and legal professions will all be asked and urged in the strongest possible terms to find and implement a solution to this disgraceful problem. No more delay can be tolerated in the face of this human misery. Thus, the Court will be watching and waiting to see what the President of the United States and his associates in the government, as well as the leaders of the private sector, do. The Court believes it will be enough, but, if not, the Court stands ready to consider the appointment of a Special Master, who will be a nationally recognized expert in this multi-disciplinary problem.1 As currently envisioned2, the Special Master would report on the conduct of those with the resources and expertise to solve and eliminate this problem — not to exacerbate it through press conferences and the hurling of recriminations, all at the expense of the truly needy. Only our nation's conscience and the residents of this building, who might otherwise be on the grates and in the parks of the nation's capital, will be harmed further if a solution is not achieved.
The plaintiffs in this case include several residents of the building located at Second and D Streets, N.W., Washington, D.C., which building is now operated as a shelter for homeless persons; the Community for Creative Non-Violence ("CCNV"), an unincorporated religious association which currently operates the shelter; and Mitch Snyder and Carol Fennelly, two members and representatives of CCNV. The defendants include Ronald Reagan, the President of the United States; Donald Regan, the Chief of the White House Staff; Margaret Heckler, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS"); Harvey Vieth, Director of the HHS Office of Community Services and Chairman of the Federal Inter-Agency Task Force on Food and Shelter for the Homeless ("the Task Force"); and Dwight A. Ink, Acting Administrator of the General Services Administration ("GSA"). All of the defendants are sued in their official capacities for declaratory and injunctive relief only.
All of the facts material to this case are undisputed. On October 31, 1983, HHS Secretary Heckler established the Federal Inter-Agency Task Force on the Homeless. This Task Force, which includes representatives from thirteen federal departments and agencies, was designed to coordinate federal efforts toward improving the conditions of the nation's homeless persons. As noted, defendant Dr. Harvey Vieth is the Chairman of the Task Force.
In December, 1983, plaintiff Mitch Snyder wrote to defendant Vieth seeking permission for CCNV to use the vacant GSA-owned building at 425 Second Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., as an emergency shelter for the city's homeless persons. Dr. Vieth and other federal officials were receptive to Snyder's proposal, and, later that month, HHS requested that the building be assigned to that Department, HHS, for use as a shelter for the city's homeless persons. On December 23, 1983, GSA issued a license to HHS for the building to be used for that purpose until March 31, 1984.
On December 27, 1983, HHS issued a license to the District of Columbia ("D.C.") Government for the use of the building as a shelter for the homeless until March 31, 1984. The D.C. Government in turn assigned its license to CCNV to operate the shelter until March 31, 1984.
On January 15, 1984, CCNV opened the building as a shelter for the homeless. CCNV subsequently requested that they be permitted to operate the building as a shelter beyond March 31, 1984. CCNV also provided the federal government with a document prepared by architect Conrad Levenson. Levenson had, at CCNV's request, examined the building and prepared this document, which represented his estimate of the scope and cost of repairs needed to restore the somewhat deteriorated...
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