U.S. v. Gregg, CIV. A. 97-2020 (JCL).
| Decision Date | 11 December 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. CIV. A. 97-2020 (JCL).,CIV. A. 97-2020 (JCL). |
| Citation | 32 F.Supp.2d 151 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. Joseph R. GREGG, Ruby C. McDaniel, Luis Menchaca, Francis S. Pagnanelli, William Charles Raiser, Michael Henry, Rose Kidd, Arnold Matheson, Katharine O'Keefe, Eva Alvarado, Joseph F. O'Hara, Joseph Roach, Robert Rudnick, James Soderna, James Sweatt, Elizabeth Wagi, Byron Adams, Kevin Blake, Amy Boissonneault, Baldo Dino, Stephen C. Elliot, Sheryl Fitzpatrick, Mary Foley, Dennis Green, George Lynch, Raymond Micco, Alexis Mulrenan, Ralph Traphagen, James Trott, Kimiko Trott, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey |
Shelley Jackson, Trial Attorney, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Special Litigation Section, Washington, DC, Colette R. Buchanan, Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice, United States Attorney, District of New Jersey, Newark, NJ, for Plaintiff.
Edward J. Gilhooly, Morristown, NJ, Richard Traynor, Morristown, NJ, Michael Pelletier, Chester, NJ, Josephine A. Farrell-Betz, Mendham, NJ, William Broderick, Pequannock, NJ, Peter Burke, Summit, NJ, William C. Cagney, Lane & Mittendorf, LLP, Iselin, NJ, Donald D. Campbell, Berkeley Heights, NJ, Michael Patrick Carroll, Morristown, NJ, Ralph Coti, Herriot, Coti & Sugrue, New York City, Michael O. Cummings, Morgan & Finnegan, LLP, New York City, Terence J. Gallagher, Morristown, NJ, Estelle Flynn Lord, Westfield, NJ, David Oakley, Anderl & Oakley, PC, Princeton, NJ, Juan J. Ryan, New Providence, NJ, Thomas E. Shields, III, Wayne, NJ, Gregory J. Sullivan, Hartsough & Kenny, Hamilton, NJ, Stephen C. Elliot, Newark, DE, Sheryl Fitzpatrick, Brighton, MA, for Defendants.
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ENTERING FINAL JUDGMENT
Presently before the Court is the motion of the United States of America (hereinafter "United States") for summary judgment pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a) on all claims alleged in its Complaint. For the reasons set forth herein, the motion of the United States will be granted, and appropriate relief will be awarded.
On April 18, 1997, the United States, through the Attorney General, filed this action pursuant to the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (hereinafter "FACE" or "the Act"), 18 U.S.C. § 248 (1994). The Complaint alleges that Metropolitan Medical Associates (hereinafter "MMA"), its employees and persons seeking reproductive services at MMA, have been and may continue to be injured by conduct constituting violations of FACE. The Complaint was filed to ensure that (a) the named defendants are enjoined from committing future violations of FACE and (b) that statutory damages, as provided for under FACE, are imposed on defendants for violations of the Act.
On December 22, 1997, this Court issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the named defendants from physically interfering with or obstructing access to the MMA building and facilities, physically intimidating or attempting to intimidate anyone seeking access to the MMA building and facilities, and entering on or being located on or within the premises of the MMA building and facilities, unless seeking reproductive health services. The Court denied the United States' request for a 60-foot buffer zone. The Court issued its Findings of Facts and Conclusions of Law after the preliminary injunction hearing. The following facts are undisputed unless otherwise noted.1
MMA is a reproductive health care clinic that provides ambulatory care abortions and related services. MMA is located in a two-story building at 40 Engle Street, Englewood, New Jersey. MMA has a street-level front entrance, directly adjacent to a public sidewalk. MMA patients and their visitors generally park on the street or in nearby parking lots, and walk down the Engle Street sidewalk to the clinic. MMA also has a small parking lot, which is used by staff only and is accessed by an alley to the side of the clinic building.
Persons entering MMA from the street must proceed past a first-floor security station and up a stairway to the second floor, through double glass doors, where the waiting room and reception area are located. Patients must register at the second floor reception desk and remain in the waiting room until called to the office area for an examination, laboratory tests and, in some cases, counseling. After counseling, patients who undergo medical procedures walk back down the stairway to the medical area on the first floor. The stairway between the first and second floors is the only one routinely used by patients or staff. The first floor street entrance is the only regularly used method for patients to enter and exit MMA. An emergency fire escape is located at the rear of the MMA building, near the staff parking lot.
Anti-abortion protests and demonstrations at MMA are restricted pursuant to orders issued in 1974 by the Superior Court of New Jersey. These orders require, inter alia, that protestors remain on the eastern side of Engle Street, across the street from the clinic. The distance from the front door of MMA across Engle Street to the eastern side of the street is approximately 60 feet.
Three blockades occurred at MMA between August 1996 and March 1997. A fourth blockade of MMA was attempted in April 1997.
On August 7, 1996, five of the named defendants — Joseph Gregg, Ruby McDaniel, Luis Menchaca, Franco Pagnanelli and William Raiser — blocked access to MMA by placing themselves inside the clinic building on the second floor landing in front of the clinic's patient waiting room entrance and office area, completely blocking the staircase. The five defendants were seated in two groups, one group of three and one group of two individuals. They had locked themselves together with U-shaped bicycle locks. The bicycle locks were placed around each of their necks and then linked together. Defendants McDaniel and Pagnanelli were locked together in one group; the other three defendants were locked together in a second group. At the preliminary injunction hearing, Englewood Police Officers George Wathney and Steven Sabo were able to identify defendants Pagnanelli and McDaniel as the individuals pictured in Government Exhibit 4B. Tr. at 1.95-1.98, 1.128, 1.110, 1.128, 1.42-1.43, 1.112, 1.117; Govt. Exhs. 4A, 4B.
Numerous police officers and fire department personnel were required to respond to the blockade of MMA. The defendants refused to leave or unlock themselves in response to police requests to do so.
It took fire department personnel considerable time to cut through one set of locks on the defendants. Ultimately, they were unable to remove all of the locks on site. Two of the defendants, still locked together, had to be carried by police officers out of the clinic and to police vehicles.
During the blockade, access to MMA's second floor patient and office areas was completely blocked. Also during the blockade, defendants McDaniel and Pagnanelli, who were locked together, were inside the clinic when the door against which they were leaning was opened from the inside. Pagnanelli and McDaniel moved into the open doorway. Police officers had to forcibly remove these two defendants from the doorway so that the door could be closed. Also during the blockade, the defendants were, at times, loud and belligerent, yelling statements that expressed their opposition to abortion.
As a result of the blockade, some MMA staff members conducted themselves as if they were angry and shaken. Some acted intimidated by defendants' actions, by expressing desires to quit working at MMA.
All five individuals were arrested and charged with trespass and other violations.
On January 18, 1997, twelve of the named defendants — Luis Menchaca, Michael Henry, Rose Kidd, Arnold Matheson, Katharine O'Keefe, Eva Alvarado, Joseph O'Hara, Joseph Roach, Robert Rudnick, James Soderna, James Sweatt and Elizabeth Wagi — blocked access to MMA by sitting or lying in front of the clinic building entrance on Engle Street. These defendants blockaded MMA despite the presence of police officers in their official vehicles directly in front of the clinic. Some defendants initially tried to enter the clinic and had to be forcibly kept out of the clinic by MMA staff and police. The defendants refused to leave the clinic entranceway and had to be physically removed and carried away by police officers.
At the hearing, defendants put into evidence a videotape showing the blockade. The videotape showed individuals crossing Engle Street and sitting and/or lying in front of the clinic entrance. Defendants' Preliminary Injunction Hearing Exhibit ("Defs.Exh.") 1; Tr. at 2.155-2.156, 2.158-2.160, 2.162-2.164. The defendants were part of a crowd of demonstrators who were outside the clinic protesting against abortion, including yelling anti-abortion statements. The twelve blockaders were arrested and charged with trespass and other violations.
On March 15, 1997, nineteen of the named defendants — Menchaca, Henri, Kidd, Matheson, O'Keefe, Byron Adams, Kevin Blake, Amy Boissonneault, Baldo Dino, Stephen Elliot, Sheryl Fitzpatrick, Mary Foley, Dennis Green, George Lynch, Raymond Micco, Alexis Mulrenan, Ralph Traphagen, James Trott and Kimiko Trott — blocked access to MMA by sitting or lying in front of the clinic building entrance on Engle Street. This blockade was conducted in two separate waves. The first group of blockaders ran across Engle Street, sat or lay in front of the entranceway, refused to leave when asked by police officers and had to be physically removed by the officers.
The second wave of blockaders ran across the street just as the officers had cleared the clinic's entrance area of the first group. Like the first group, the second group sat and lay in front of the entranceway, refused to leave when asked by police and had to be physically removed....
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