Skorepa v. City of Chula Vista

• Decision Date: 06 October 1989
• Docket Number: No. 88-0464-R(M).,88-0464-R(M).
• Parties: Andrea SKOREPA, on behalf of herself and all others similarly situated, Plaintiff, v. CITY OF CHULA VISTA; Chula Vista Mayor Gregory R. Cox; Gail McCandliss, Chula Vista City Councilmember; David Malcolm, Chula Vista City Councilmember; Leonard Morre, Chula Vista City Councilmember; Tim Nader, Chula Vista City Councilmember; Jeannie Fulasz, Chula Vista City Clerk; and Does 1 through 200, inclusive, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of California

723 F. Supp. 1384

Andrea SKOREPA, on behalf of herself and all others similarly situated, Plaintiff, v. CITY OF CHULA VISTA; Chula Vista Mayor Gregory R. Cox; Gail McCandliss, Chula Vista City Councilmember; David Malcolm, Chula Vista City Councilmember; Leonard Morre, Chula Vista City Councilmember; Tim Nader, Chula Vista City Councilmember; Jeannie Fulasz, Chula Vista City Clerk; and Does 1 through 200, inclusive, Defendants.

No. 88-0464-R(M).

United States District Court, S.D. California.

October 6, 1989.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Patricia A. Meyer, Aguirre & Meyer, San Diego, Cal., for plaintiff.

John E. McDermott, McDermott, Will & Emery, Los Angeles, Cal., for defendants.

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

RHOADES, District Judge.

Defendants' motion for summary judgment in the captioned case came before the Honorable John S. Rhoades, on April 17, 1989. Patricia A. Meyer, of Aguirre & Meyer, appeared on behalf of the plaintiffs and John E. McDermott, of McDermott, Will & Emery, appeared on behalf of the defendants. Based on the Court's oral statements from the bench, the motion for summary judgment is granted. This order summarizes the basis for the Court's ruling.

I. INTRODUCTION

This case concerns the City of Chula Vista's at-large system for electing representatives to its City Council. Plaintiff alleges that the at-large system violates the rights of the City's Hispanic citizens under § 2 et seq. of the Voting Rights Act (42 U.S.C. § 1973 et seq.) and under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Plaintiff seeks an order requiring Chula Vista to elect its representatives from districts only.

In its motion for summary judgment, Chula Vista argues that plaintiff is foreclosed from relief by the United States Supreme Court's decision in Thornburg v. Gingles, 478 U.S. 30, 106 S.Ct. 2752, 92 L.Ed.2d 25 (1986). Under Thornburg, a minority group challenging an at-large election system must prove that it is sufficiently large and compact to form a majority in a district if a single-member district system were used. Id. at 50-51, 106 S.Ct. at 2766. The City contends that plaintiff cannot prove this precondition and, consequently, that the complaint must be dismissed.

II. THE STANDARDS APPLICABLE TO THE MOTION

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(c) provides that a motion for summary judgment shall be granted if the papers "show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." To establish a genuine factual issue, and thereby defeat the motion, the party opposing the motion must show more than some factual dispute. The question is whether "reasonable jurors could find by a preponderance of the evidence that the plaintiff is entitled to a verdict." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 252, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2512, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). "Thus, in ruling on a motion for summary judgment, the judge must view the evidence presented through the prism of the substantive evidentiary burden." Id. at 254, 106 S.Ct. at 2513.

The Court must deny the motion if genuine factual issues are raised. In this regard, the Court also must construe the evidence in a manner that provides the non-moving party with all reasonable inferences that may be drawn from the evidence. Admiralty Fund v. Tabor, 677 F.2d 1297, 1299 (9th Cir.1982).

III. STATEMENT OF FACTS

The City of Chula Vista uses an at-large electoral system to select the members of its City Council. The at-large system allows every registered voter to participate in every councilmanic election, without regard to the voters' place of residence within the City. Thus, each voter has a say in the election of every candidate for office.

There are four City Council seats in the City, excluding the mayor, who also is elected citywide. City Council elections are held every two years at which time two of the four numbered seats on the Council are filled.

The racial and ethnic composition of the City of Chula Vista, based on 1980 boundaries and 1980 census data, is as follows:

                Anglo (non-Hispanic Whites)   68.1%
                Black (non-Hispanic)           2.1%
                Hispanic                      23.3%
                Other (includes Asians,        6.5%
                 Pacific Islanders, American Indians)
                

Using its current boundaries, Chula Vista has a total 1980 population of 107,000. Of this number, 26.5 percent are Hispanic. These statistics include the 1980 population of the so-called Montgomery area which was annexed to Chula Vista in 1985.

Chula Vista's expert demographer, Dr. Peter Morrison, evaluated the demography in Chula Vista to determine whether Hispanic persons or voters could form a majority in any district of a four district system given a best case compactness assumption. To estimate the hypothetical upper limit of geographic compactness among the entire Hispanic population in Chula Vista, Dr. Morrison combined the City's most heavily contiguous Hispanic census block groups into an area containing one-fourth of Chula Vista's total population. The ideal population for each district in a four district plan is 26,750.

For a district of 26,750 persons, Dr. Morrison estimated that no more than 42.7 percent would be Hispanic. When the factors of age and citizenship are considered, Hispanics who are eligible to vote constitute only 26.1% of the eligible voters in the hypothetical district.

Plaintiff's expert demographer, Dr. Bruce Cain, also conducted a demographic analysis. He was able to construct a 45.9% Hispanic population district assuming the use of four districts. By including all of the minorities in this hypothetical Hispanic district, he determined that the percentage of minorities in the district was 55% of the total population. Dr. Cain did not consider the factors of age or citizenship in his analysis.

Dr. Cain also reviewed population growth projections for 1990 by the U.S. Census, which showed that the Hispanic population has grown at a faster rate than the white population since 1980. He concluded that it is highly likely that the estimates of Hispanic population for the districts mentioned above are underestimates.

IV. SECTION 2 OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT

A. In General

Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1973, provides that:

"(a) No voting qualification or prerequisite to voting or standard, practice, or procedure shall be imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision in a manner which results in a denial or abridgement of the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color....

(b) A violation of subsection (a) of this section is established if, based on the totality of circumstances, it is shown that the political processes leading to nomination or election in the State or political subdivision are not equally open to participation by members of a class of citizens protected by subsection (a) of this section in that its members have less opportunity than other members of the electorate to participate in the political process and to elect representatives of their choice.... Provided, That nothing in this section establishes a right to have members of a protected class elected in numbers equal to their proportion in the population."

By its terms, § 2 establishes a "results" test to determine whether minority voters' electoral power has been unlawfully diluted as a result of an electoral procedure. As a threshold to this analysis, however, the United States Supreme Court has established three "necessary preconditions" for § 2 challenges to at-large electoral systems. Thornburg v. Gingles, 478 U.S. 30, 50-51, 106 S.Ct. 2752, 2766, 92 L.Ed.2d 25 (1986). Plaintiffs cannot succeed in § 2 challenges to at-large electoral systems unless they prove the existence of each of the three preconditions. Gomez v. City of Watsonville, 863 F.2d 1407, 1413 (9th Cir. 1988), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 109 S.Ct. 1534, 103 L.Ed.2d 839 (1989); McNeil v. Springfield Park District, 851 F.2d 937, 939 (7th Cir.1988), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 109 S.Ct. 1769, 104 L.Ed.2d 204 (1989); Collins v. City of Norfolk, 816 F.2d 932, 935 (4th Cir.1987); Buckanaga v. Sisseton Independent School District, 804 F.2d 469, 472 (8th Cir.1986). If these preconditions are not met, there is no need to consider the presence of other factors within the totality of circumstances analysis. McNeil, 851 F.2d at 942.

Only the first of Thornburg's three preconditions is implicated by the City's motion. The first precondition requires the minority group to prove that it "is sufficiently large and geographically compact to constitute a majority in a single-member district. If it is not, as would be the case in a substantially integrated district, the at-large form of the district cannot be responsible for minority voters' inability to elect its candidates." 478 U.S. at 50-51, 106 S.Ct. at 2766 (citations and footnotes omitted, alterations added). The Thornburg Court explained the purpose of this precondition as follows:

"The reason that a minority group making such a challenge must show, as a threshold matter, that it is sufficiently large and geographically compact to constitute a majority in a single-member district is this: Unless minority voters possess the potential to elect representatives in the absence of the challenged structure or practice, they cannot claim to have been injured by that structure or practice. The single-member district is generally the appropriate standard against which to measure minority group potential to elect because it is the smallest political unit from which representatives are elected. Thus, if the minority group is spread evenly throughout a multimember district, or if, although geographically compact, the minority group is so small in relation to the surrounding white population that it could not constitute a majority in a single-member district, these minority voters cannot maintain that they would have

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