Saddler v. Winstead

• Decision Date: 18 May 1971
• Docket Number: No. EC 70-20-S.,EC 70-20-S.
• Citation: 327 F. Supp. 568
• Parties: Mrs. Ora Lee SADDLER et al., Plaintiffs, v. Arthur WINSTEAD et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Mississippi

327 F. Supp. 568

Mrs. Ora Lee SADDLER et al., Plaintiffs, v. Arthur WINSTEAD et al., Defendants.

No. EC 70-20-S.

United States District Court, N. D. Mississippi, E. D.

May 18, 1971.

Thomas A. Bowman, Thomas R. Mayfield, West Point, Miss., James A. Lewis, John C. Brittain, Jr., Oxford, Miss., for plaintiffs.

A. F. Summer, Atty. Gen., James E. Rankin, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jesse R. Adams, Jr., Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, Miss., for defendants.

Before CLARK, Circuit Judge, and KEADY and SMITH, District Judges.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

PER CURIAM:

The complaint¹ herein attacks the validity of a certain regulation of the Mississippi State Department of Public Welfare having statewide application. The attack is based on two contentions, i.e. (1) that the regulation is unconstitutional in that it violates the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Constitution of the United States, and (2) that the regulation is in direct conflict with and violative of the Social Security Act of 1935, Subchapter IV, Part A, Sections 401-410 as amended, 42 U. S.C.A. §§ 601-610, and the regulations promulgated thereunder by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare and is therefore invalid.

Pursuant to the request of plaintiff a three-judge court was duly constituted to determine and adjudicate the issues presented in the complaint pursuant to 28 U.S.C.A. §§ 2281, 2284.

Subsequent to the formation of the court plaintiff moved to remand the action to a one-judge court for the determination and adjudication of the statutory issue alone.

Prior to the filing of the motion to remand plaintiff filed a motion for a preliminary injunction.

The action has been submitted to the court on the record herein, stipulation of the parties and briefs.

It is settled that the statutory claim should be determined and adjudicated before the constitutional issue is considered, and, that a one-judge court is the proper forum to determine the statutory claim. Rosado v. Wyman, 397 U.S. 397, 403, 90 S.Ct. 1207, 1213, 25 L. Ed.2d 442, 450 (1970); Dandridge v. Williams, 397 U.S. 471, 475-477, 90 S.Ct. 1153, 1156-1158, 25 L.Ed.2d 491, 496-497 (1970); Wyman v. Rothstein, 398 U.S. 275, 276, 90 S.Ct. 1582, 1583, 26 L.Ed.2d 218, 219 (1970).

The motion to remand is bottomed on the premise that plaintiff is entitled to have the statutory claim determined and adjudicated by a single rather than a three-judge court.

The court is of the opinion and so finds that plaintiff's motion is well taken and this action should be remanded to Orma R. Smith, District Judge for the Northern District of Mississippi, the requesting judge herein, for the determination and adjudication of plaintiff's claim that the regulation aforesaid is invalid because it is in conflict with and violative of the federal statutes and regulations aforesaid.

1 Plaintiff brings this action, individually, and on behalf of her minor dependent grandchildren, Sammy Lee Davis, born July 8, 1955, and Tommy Lee Davis, born October 1, 1957. The action is also a class action brought by plaintiff on behalf of all others similarly situated. The minor grandchildren of plaintiff have no income or resources, and being qualified for assistance under the Welfare Program of the State of Mississippi were denied assistance for the sole reason the plaintiff refused to sign a report...