Stradley v. Andersen, Civ. No. 71-L-228.
| Decision Date | 15 June 1971 |
| Docket Number | Civ. No. 71-L-228. |
| Citation | 334 F. Supp. 72 |
| Parties | Larry STRADLEY, Plaintiff, v. Richard R. ANDERSEN, as Chief of the Division of Police, Department of Public Safety, City of Omaha, Nebraska, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Nebraska |
Bruce Mason, Stanley A. Krieger, and Bennett G. Hornstein, Omaha, Neb., for plaintiff.
James E. Fellows, and Kent N. Whinnery, Omaha, Neb., for defendant.
This case comes before the Court on application of the plaintiff that a permanent injunction issue restraining enforcement of an order promulgated by Chief Richard R. Andersen of the City of Omaha Police Division, and a motion by defendant that such action be dismissed Filings # 1, 3.
The plaintiff, Larry Stradley, has been a police officer for approximately four and one-half years. The order in question was issued by Chief Andersen on May 17, 1971, and provided for "Standards of Appearance for Police Officers," in regard to length of hair, sideburns, mustaches, and goatees or beards. The order was to be effective June 1, 1971. On May 28, 1971, this Court issued a temporary restraining order, restraining enforcement of the order of Chief Andersen until a hearing on the matter could be held on June 2, 1971.
The Court, having studied the briefs of the parties and listened to the evidence each party chose to present to the Court at such hearing, sustains defendant's motion to dismiss.
The Court finds, pursuant to the evidence which was presented and uncontroverted, that in this municipality city employees, including the police, are allowed to form unions and to negotiate the conditions of their employment. Under that contract there is provided an appeal process whereby any order of the Chief of Police may be appealed in the following order: First, to the Chief himself, then to the Public Safety Director for the City of Omaha, then to the City Personnel Director, and then to the City Personnel Board. In addition, an action can be then filed in the Court of Industrial Relations, and the District Courts of Douglas County.
This Court believes in the dual sovereignty theory of government in which the State courts have an obligation to handle personnel problems arising within their jurisdiction. Mr. Chief Justice Warren E. Burger emphasized the need for a renewed application of this concept in his "State of the Federal Judiciary" message, delivered before the American Bar Association, at St. Louis, Missouri, on August 10, 1970. The Chief Justice said:
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Stradley v. Andersen, 71-1363.
...union contract and statutory grievance procedures, and for reasons of comity inhering in the abstention doctrine. Stradley v. Andersen, 334 F.Supp. 72 (D.Neb.1971). In this case, however, the "right alleged is . . . plainly federal in origin and nature, . . . no underlying issue of state la......
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...look more to state courts familiar with local conditions and local problems." Alberda v. Noell, 322 F.Supp. 1379, 1382 E.D.Mich.1971, Stradley v. Andersen, 334 F.Supp. 72 D.Nev. The desirability of the rule as to the facts of this case is evident. Chief Andersen testified that the order was......
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Stradley v. Andersen
...sitting by designation. 1 The district court's earlier opinion requiring exhaustion of state remedies before federal trial, 334 F.Supp. 72 (D.Neb. 1971), was reversed and remanded for a plenary trial, 456 F.2d 1063 (8 Cir. 2 urges that in the Dwen case the regulation applied only to uniform......