Southwestern Community Action Council, Inc. v. COMMUNITY SERVICES, ETC.

• Decision Date: 13 December 1978
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 76-0351-H.
• Citation: 462 F. Supp. 289
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of West Virginia
• Parties: SOUTHWESTERN COMMUNITY ACTION COUNCIL, INC., a corporation, Plaintiff, v. COMMUNITY SERVICES ADMINISTRATION, Defendant.

462 F. Supp. 289

SOUTHWESTERN COMMUNITY ACTION COUNCIL, INC., a corporation, Plaintiff, v. COMMUNITY SERVICES ADMINISTRATION, Defendant.

Civ. A. No. 76-0351-H.

United States District Court, S. D. West Virginia, Huntington Division.

December 13, 1978.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

James R. Bailes, C. F. Bagley, III, Huntington, W. Va., for plaintiff.

Rebecca A. Betts, Asst. U. S. Atty., Charleston, W. Va., Ian Fan, Community Services, for defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

HADEN, District Judge.

In this action for declaratory judgment Southwestern Community Action Council, Inc., a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of West Virginia, seeks a determination of the validity of a regulation promulgated by Defendant Community Services Administration. The regulation, OEO Instruction 6900-01, issued pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 2796, governs the employment policies of Plaintiff with regard to conflicts of interest and nepotism. The regulation as applied by Defendant requires Plaintiff to dismiss either Della Martin, an employee, or Richard Martin, its Board Chairman, as a result of their marriage.

Defendant Community Services Administration (CSA) is the government anti-poverty agency, originally established in 1964 as the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) pursuant to the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, as amended (Act), 42 U.S.C. §§ 2701-2996e. Title II of the Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2781-2837 establishes community action agencies (CAAs) to provide services to low income families.

CAAs are State or political subdivisions of a State or non-profit organizations designated by a State or political subdivision which plan and conduct community action programs in accordance with the Act. 42 U.S.C. § 2790. The purpose of these programs is to enable low income families to become more fully self-sufficient and to help alleviate poverty in the community. Plaintiff Southwestern Community Action Council, Inc. (Southwestern) is the CAA for Wayne, Cabell, Lincoln, and Mason Counties in West Virginia. As such it receives federal assistance under Title II of the Act.

OEO Instruction 6900-01 prohibits the employment of a person by a CAA in a job over which a member of that person's immediate family exercises supervisory authority or serves on a board or committee with authority to order personnel actions affecting his job. This action arose after Defendant's regional counsel notified Plaintiff that the marriage of Della Martin, an employee of Southwestern, and Richard Martin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Southwestern created a violation of OEO Instruction 6900-01 in that Richard Martin had supervisory authority over Della Martin while they occupied the status of husband and wife.

The Martins were married in 1973, and the record reflects that some attempts were made at that time on the part of Plaintiff to resolve the conflict. These attempts were unsuccessful, however, and in August of 1976, Defendant's counsel notified Plaintiff that CSA would withhold its authorization to release funds to Plaintiff unless it either terminated the employment of Della Martin or caused the removal of Richard Martin from Southwestern's Board of Directors.

By agreement between the parties CSA agreed to continue to authorize funds to allow Plaintiff time to seek a declaratory judgment in the cases of Richard and Della Martin. Plaintiff then instituted this action.

Presently pending before this Court are cross motions for summary judgment. Both Plaintiff and Defendant have submitted memorandums in support of their respective motions. The issues before the Court have been briefed by both parties and may be summarized as follows:

(1) Whether Plaintiff has standing to maintain this suit.

(2) Whether OEO Instruction 6900-01 is inconsistent with the purpose and intent of 42 U.S.C. § 2796 and exceeds the authority granted thereby.

(3) Whether OEO Instruction 6900-01 unconstitutionally impinges on the fundamental right to marry.

(4) Whether enforcement of OEO Instruction 6900-01 would constitute discrimination on the basis of sex in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended.

(5) Whether Defendant has waived or should be required to waive application of OEO Instruction 6900-01 in the circumstances here involved.

(6) Whether a genuine issue of material fact exists as to the alleged waiver of OEO Instruction 6900-01.

I.

At the outset, the Court will dismiss as without merit Plaintiff's contention that enforcement of OEO Instruction 6900-01 would constitute discrimination on the basis of sex in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended. Plaintiff argues that to comply with OEO Instruction 6900-01 would require the dismissal of Della Martin in this case and ultimately widespread dismissal of female employees.

Plaintiff has misinterpreted the regulation. OEO Instruction 6900-01 concerns itself with conflicts of interests between members of an immediate family, of which husband and wife is only one category. The Court can envision situations where violations of the regulation could occur and both family members be of the same sex, e. g., father and son or two sisters. Additionally there is no indication in the records that Defendant's instructions to Plaintiff require it to dismiss Della Martin as opposed to Richard Martin. Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld, 420 U.S. 636, 95 S.Ct. 1225, 43 L.Ed.2d 514; Frontiero v. Richardson, 411 U.S. 677, 93 S.Ct. 1764, 36 L.Ed.2d 583; Johnson v. United States, 422 F.Supp. 958 (N.D.Ind.1976) aff'd. sub nom. Barter v. United States, 550 F.2d 1239 (7th Cir. 1977) cert. denied 434 U.S. 1012, 98 S.Ct. 725, 54 L.Ed.2d 755.

II.

In moving for summary judgment Defendant contends inter alia that Southwestern does not have standing to maintain this suit. Defendant asserts correctly that the pivotal question in this case is whether the regulation in question unconstitutionally infringes upon the right and freedom of the Martins to marry. Defendant argues that only the Martins, who are not parties to this action, have standing to raise this claim.

Standing involves the question of whether Plaintiff is entitled to bring its complaint before a federal court. Simon v. Eastern Ky. Welfare Rights Org., 426 U.S. 26, 96 S.Ct. 1917, 48 L.Ed.2d 450 (1976). Art. III of the Constitution limits the exercise of federal judicial power to actual cases and controversies. A plaintiff can invoke the judicial process only when he can show that he himself has suffered some threatened or actual injury resulting from the putatively illegal action of the defendant. Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 499, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975).

To satisfy the Art. III requirement of standing that Plaintiff make out an actual case or controversy between himself and the Defendant requires that Plaintiff allege "`such a personal stake in the outcome of the controversy' as to warrant his invocation of federal-court jurisdiction to justify exercise of the court's remedial powers on his behalf." Warth v. Seldin, supra at 498-499, 95 S.Ct. at 2205 (emphasis in original). The relevant inquiry is whether Plaintiff has shown "an injury to himself that is likely to be redressed by a favorable decision." Simon v. Eastern Ky. Welfare Rights Org., supra, 426 U.S. at 38, 96 S.Ct. at 1924.

Apart from the Constitutional considerations of Art. III there are certain prudential limitations on the exercise of federal court jurisdiction that affect the standing question. The prudential aspect of standing involves the question of whether Plaintiff is the proper proponent of the particular legal rights on which he bases his suit. Singleton v. Wulff, 428 U.S. 106, 112, 96 S.Ct. 2868, 49 L.Ed.2d 826 (1976). Prudential rules of standing are essentially matters of "judicial self-governance" grounded in the concern for what is the "proper—and properly limited—role of courts in a democratic society" and serve to limit who may invoke the court's decisional and remedial powers. Warth v. Seldin, supra, 422 U.S. at 498, 95 S.Ct. at 2205.

Even when Plaintiff has alleged injury sufficient to meet the "case or controversy requirement", it has been held that the Plaintiff generally must assert his own legal rights and interests, and cannot rest his claim to relief on the legal rights or interests of third parties. Warth v. Seldin, supra at 499, 95 S.Ct. 2197. The rule is based upon the consideration that federal courts should not unnecessarily adjudicate the rights of third parties, and that if such rights are actually called into issue, the third parties themselves usually will be the best proponent of their own rights. Singleton v. Wulff, supra.

The rule is not all-pervasive, however, and courts have not required its application where the underlying justifications are absent. Where the activity Plaintiff wishes to pursue or the interests he seeks to protect are inextricably bound up with the third party right or where Plaintiff is an effective proponent of the right as the third party, courts have found the rule inapplicable. Singleton v. Wulff, supra; Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479, 85 S.Ct. 1678, 14 L.Ed.2d 510 (1965). But, as Singleton points out, the ability of the third party to assert his own right is an important factual element in making this determination, and even where the relationship is close, the reasons for requiring persons to assert their own rights will generally still apply. 428 U.S. at 116, 96 S.Ct. 2868.

It seems clear that Southwestern has established the "case or controversy" requirement of Art. III, for there is no doubt that Plaintiff will suffer concrete injury if the challenged regulation is upheld. It will have to discharge either its Board Chairman or a valued employee. Alternatively the threatened action by Defendant would terminate the federal assistance to which Plaintiff is entitled. Clearly this is an injury that is likely to be redressed by a favorable decision. Simon v. Eastern Ky. Welfare...