Southern Christian Leadership v. Supreme Court, CIV. A. 99-1205.
| Citation | 61 F.Supp.2d 499 |
| Decision Date | 27 July 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. CIV. A. 99-1205.,CIV. A. 99-1205. |
| Parties | SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE, LOUISIANA CHAPTER, et al. v. SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Louisiana |
Mary E. Howell, Howell & Snead, New Orleans, LA, Marjorie Rusth Esman, Marjorie R. Esman, PLC, New Orleans, LA, David Udell, Richard Buery, Brennan Center for Justice, New York City, for plaintiffs.
Christina Berthelot Peck, Roedel, Parsons, Koch, Frost, Balhoff & McCollister, Baton Roughe, LA, Michael H. Rubin, McGlinchey Stafford P.L.L.C., Baton Rouge, LA, for defendant.
Joel R. Waltzer, Waltzer & Associates, New Orleans, LA, for Clinical Legal Educ. Ass'n, amicus.
Lynn Marie Luker, Luker, Sibal and McMurtray, New Orleans, LA, for Louisiana Appleseed, amicus.
ORDER AND REASONS
Before the Court is the Motion of Defendant Louisiana Supreme Court to Dismiss Plaintiffs' Complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and for lack of standing.
For the following reasons, the Defendant's Motion to Dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) is hereby GRANTED, and the Plaintiffs' Complaint is hereby DISMISSED with prejudice, and with costs.
In 1971, the Louisiana Supreme Court adopted Rule XX, entitled "Limited Participation of Law Students in Trial Work." See La. Sup.Ct. R. XX. Section 1 of the Rule stresses the primary responsibility of the bench and bar for supplying legal services to all persons, including those unable to afford them. Section 1 further declares that the adoption of Rule XX should serve "[a]s one means of providing assistance to clients unable to pay for such services and to encourage law schools to provide clinical instruction in trial work of varying kinds." Id. § 1. The Rule permits an eligible law student to appear in court or before administrative tribunals in a representative capacity on behalf of the state, its subdivisions, or any indigent person. See id. § 3. The Louisiana Supreme Court amended the original rule in 1988 to include student representation of indigent community organizations.
Over the years several law school sponsored clinics, including the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic ("TELC"), have supplied legal advice and representation to various indigent community organizations. According to the Plaintiffs' Complaint, sometime around November 1996 Plaintiff St. James Citizens for Jobs & the Environment ("St.James") sought TELC's assistance in opposing the construction of a polyvinyl chloride and ethylene dichloride production facility by Shintech in the St. James Parish town of Convent. See Pls.' Compl., ¶ 23. St. James opposed the plant's location on the grounds that, as a small, lower income and predominantly African-American community, Convent was already host to a disproportionate share of chemical facilities posing risks to both the environment and to the health of local inhabitants. St. James avers that it was unable to secure legal representation in its fight against Shintech from any source other than TELC.
TELC appeared at hearings on behalf of St. James and some of the other Plaintiffs to this suit, and opposed the Shintech project. After the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality ("LDEQ") submitted proposed air permits for the plant, TELC filed objections to them with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA"). In April 1997, EPA instructed LDEQ to reevaluate the proposals in light of the environmental justice concerns raised by TELC on behalf of its clients. See id. ¶ 26. TELC then filed additional objections, contending that the air permits violated a Presidential Executive Order on environmental justice as well as Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Shintech eventually decided to locate elsewhere.
Plaintiffs allege that TELC's successful advocacy "provoked intense criticism and retribution" from business and political leaders around Louisiana. See id. ¶ 28. They further assert that the Governor, citing concerns that TELC and other groups like it were discouraging business investment in Louisiana, mounted an aggressive campaign aimed at galvanizing business interests to exert pressure on Tulane University to reign in the clinic. See id. ¶¶ 28-29. In turn, these business groups sent a series of letters to the Louisiana Supreme Court, complaining about TELC's activities and asking for tighter regulation of student practice. See id. ¶¶ 30-40. After conducting an investigation, the Supreme Court on June 17, 1998 amended Rule XX to impose additional regulations on the operation of student clinics throughout the State. Rule XX was thereafter amended on two occasions, and on March 22, 1999, the Louisiana Supreme Court published the latest version, which became effective April 15, 1999, and is the primary focus of this lawsuit.
The Rule as finally amended provides in relevant part:
Section 4. Standard for Determining Eligibility for Representation. Law School clinical program staff and student practitioners who appear in a representative capacity pursuant to this rule may represent any individual or family unit whose annual income does not exceed 200% of the federal poverty guidelines established by the Department of Health and Human Services. These guidelines need not be applied when the client is court-appointed or court-referred and the appointing or referring court has reviewed the economic condition of the client and has determined that the client is indigent.
Section 5. Representation of Indigent Community Organizations. Any indigent community organization that wishes to obtain representation pursuant to this rule must certify in writing to the inability to pay for legal services. The written certification shall be subject to inspection by the Supreme Court of Louisiana.
Law school clinical program staff and student practitioners who appear in a representative capacity pursuant to this rule may represent any indigent community organization provided at least 51% of the organization's members are eligible for legal assistance pursuant to Section 4 of this rule. The indigent community organization shall also provide information to clinic staff which shows that the organization lacks, and has no practical means of obtaining, funds to retain private counsel.
Section 7. The certification of a student by the law school dean ... (c) May be terminated by this court at any time without notice or hearing and without any showing of cause.
Section 10. Lawyer staffpersons of law school clinical programs and certified student practitioners shall adhere to the Rules of Professional Conduct, including the rules prohibiting solicitation of cases or clients. In addition, no student practitioner shall appear in a representative capacity pursuant to this rule if any clinical program supervising lawyer, staffperson, or student practitioner initiated in-person contact, or contact by mail, telephone or other communications medium, with an indigent person or indigent community organization for the purpose of representing the contacted person or organization.
Section 12. Nothing contained in this rule shall affect the right of any person who is not admitted to practice law to do anything that he/she might lawfully do prior to the adoption of this rule.
La. Sup.Ct. R. XX.
On April 16, 1999 Plaintiffs instituted this suit pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, styled as "an action to preserve access to legal representation for individuals and community organizations in Louisiana who seek to enforce public laws and advance the public good, but who cannot afford to retain private counsel." Pls.' Compl., ¶ 1. Plaintiffs comprise twenty-one separate parties, including ten community organizations allegedly in need of law clinic representation ("client-plaintiffs"), five law school professors who are licensed attorneys and act as clinic instructors ("professor-plaintiffs"), two student groups and three individual students claiming direct interests in clinical education programs ("student-plaintiffs"), and one private, individual donor of funds to TELC ("donor-plaintiff"). Plaintiffs name the Louisiana Supreme Court as sole Defendant and seek declaratory and injunctive relief, asking this Court to declare the amendments to Rule XX unconstitutional under both the United States Constitution and the Constitution of the State of Louisiana.
In their Complaint, Plaintiffs list eight specific bases for the relief sought by asserting that the Rule XX Amendments: 1) constitute impermissible viewpoint discrimination in violation of both the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 7 of the Louisiana Constitution; 2) violate Equal Protection under the Fourteenth Amendment as well as Article I, Section 3 of the Louisiana Constitution by discriminating against Plaintiffs on the basis of their political views; 3) infringe Plaintiffs' rights of freedom of speech, association, and to petition government for redress of grievances under the First Amendment and Louisiana Constitution, by placing restrictions on student solicitation of clients and cases (Rule XX, Section 10); 4) impinge on the academic freedom of professors and students in contravention of the First and Fourteenth Amendments and Article I, Sections 7, 9, and 23 of the Louisiana Constitution by imposing the newer, more restrictive income requirements potential clients must meet in order to qualify for representation (Rule XX, Sections 4 and 5); 5) violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments in addition to Article I, Sections 7, 9, and 22 of the Louisiana Constitution because the new income guidelines and allegedly intrusive verification procedures suppress Plaintiffs' freedom of speech, freedom of association, and right to petition government for redress of grievances (Rule XX, Section 5);...
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