Warner v. Orange County Dept. of Probation

• Decision Date: 29 July 1993
• Docket Number: No. 93 Civ. 1544 (GLG).,93 Civ. 1544 (GLG).
• Citation: 827 F. Supp. 261
• Parties: Robert WARNER, Plaintiff, v. ORANGE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PROBATION, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

827 F. Supp. 261

Robert WARNER, Plaintiff, v. ORANGE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PROBATION, Defendant.

No. 93 Civ. 1544 (GLG).

United States District Court, S.D. New York.

July 29, 1993.

Robert N. Isseks, Goshen, NY, for plaintiff.

Stephen R. Hunter, County Atty., Dept. of Law, Government Center Goshen, NY (Michael P. Bazell, Sr. Asst. County Atty., of counsel), for defendant.

OPINION

GOETTEL, District Judge:

This is an action for compensatory damages and injunctive relief brought by Plaintiff Robert Warner against Defendant Orange County Department of Probation.

I. STATEMENT OF THE FACTS

On November 13, 1990, Plaintiff was convicted of Driving While Ability Impaired under N.Y.Veh.Traf.Law Section 1192(1). This was Plaintiff's third alcohol-related driving offense within a period of slightly more than one year. Plaintiff received a sentence of three years probation which included several "conditions of probation." The subject of the present complaint is condition No. 5 which states: "That you will attend Alcoholics Anonymous at the direction of your probation officer." Plaintiff's Complaint at 3.

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an organization dedicated to helping people recover from alcoholism. AA is not a party to this action. According to affidavits submitted by Defendant, there are over 35,000 AA programs in the United States and over one million members. Some important principles of the AA program are set forth in a pamphlet entitled "The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous" which was allegedly distributed to Plaintiff and to many other new participants in AA. Several of these "steps" include language acknowledging the existence of a Higher Power and the necessity of subjugating oneself to such a Power as a precondition of successful treatment of alcoholism. Examples include:

....

Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

....

Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

....

Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

Plaintiff's complaint at 4-5 (emphasis in original).

In addition to the "Twelve Steps", Plaintiff alleges, meetings frequently began with a prayer invoking the "Lord", and all members were encouraged to read a book written by the organization's founders, "The Big Book", which contains many references to spirituality and God. Chapter Four of "The Big Book", entitled "We Agnostics," provides:

To one who feels he is an atheist or agnostic such an experience seems impossible, but to continue as he is means disaster.... To be doomed to an alcoholic death or to live on a spiritual basis are not always easy alternatives to face.... About half our original fellowship were exactly of that type. At first some of us tried to avoid the issue, hoping against hope we were not true alcoholics. But after a while we had to face the fact that we must find a spiritual basis of life—or else.

Plaintiff's Complaint, Exhibit B at 1. Members are encouraged to consider their own conception of "God".

Plaintiff claims to be an atheist. He claims to have protested to his probation officers in 1990 when the sentence was imposed, as well as several times thereafter, that he found his forced participation in AA to be repugnant because it is religious in nature and because of its repeated emphasis on God and spirituality. Plaintiff does not object to alcohol rehabilitation programs per se as a condition of his probation, only to the specific make-up and character of AA. Defendant claims that, although Plaintiff complained about his requirement to attend AA meetings because he felt he did not need treatment, he did not articulate a protest on religious grounds until the summer of 1992.

Plaintiff brought suit in July 1992 in the local criminal court arguing that the condition of his probation which required him to attend AA meetings violated his constitutional right to free exercise of religion.

On or about August 17, 1992, Plaintiff's probation officer provided him with names and telephone numbers of three alcohol abuse counselors who would be able to provide the treatment in lieu of the AA program without an emphasis on God or spirituality.

By order dated September 11, 1992, the criminal court dismissed Plaintiff's motion as moot.

Plaintiff now claims that his forced participation in AA as an element of his probation constituted a violation of the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution. He requests injunctive relief and compensatory damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

II. DISCUSSION

A. MOTION TO DISMISS

We can only grant a motion to dismiss where "it appears beyond doubt that Plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief." Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 102, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957); Branum v. Clark, 927 F.2d 698 (2d Cir.1991) (when plaintiff alleges civil rights violations, courts should apply the rule of no dismissal unless beyond doubt that no set of facts can be proved in support of claims with particular strictness).

In reviewing a motion to dismiss, "the factual allegations in the complaint must be accepted as true, and all reasonable inferences must be drawn in favor of the plaintiff." Frazier v. Coughlin, 850 F.2d 129, 129 (2d Cir.1988).

B. MOOTNESS

Article III of the United States Constitution restricts the decision making power of the federal judiciary to cases involving "a case or controversy." Plaintiff must "demonstrate a personal stake in the outcome in order to assure that concrete adverseness which sharpens the presentation of issues necessary for the proper resolution of constitutional questions." Los Angeles v. Lyons, 461 U.S. 95, 101, 103 S.Ct. 1660, 1665, 75 L.Ed.2d 675 (1983). Since Plaintiff has been provided with names and telephone numbers of alcohol abuse counselors acceptable to him, no controversy seems to remain with respect to the requested injunctive relief.

However, "claims for damages or other monetary relief automatically avoid mootness, so long as the claim remains viable." Stokes v. Wurtsboro, 818 F.2d 4, 6 (2d Cir. 1987). It is difficult to see how Plaintiff could have sustained compensatory damages merely from being exposed to religious dogma. However, even if Plaintiff suffered no compensatory losses, he may be entitled to nominal damages of $1 and attorney's fees. See, e.g., White Plains Towing Corp. v. Patterson, 991 F.2d 1049, 1056 (2d Cir.1993). In any event, Plaintiff has demanded compensatory damages, and we must proceed to the merits of his case.

C. ESTOPPEL

Defendant claims that this issue has been adjudicated in the local criminal court and therefore Plaintiff must appeal that decision if he is dissatisfied with it. Since he has not done so, Defendant asks us to find that Plaintiff is collaterally estopped from bringing this claim in federal court. We decline to do so. The local criminal court determined that:

This court, under the facts presented, will not rule that the AA program as offered intrudes upon the defendant's rights or in any way requires him to practice religion under the `threat' of imprisonment. Predicated upon the facts adduced, the Court finds that there are suitable other alternatives made available to the defendant as presented by the Orange County Department of Probation to attendance at AA that the defendant's current motion is rendered academic or moot.

People v. Warner, (Town of Woodbury Justice Court, September 11, 1992). As a criminal defendant, Plaintiff had brought an action for injunctive relief only. The local criminal court never adjudicated the issue of whether Plaintiff's rights were violated by the religious nature of AA, nor did the court address the question of damages. Therefore, Plaintiff cannot be collaterally estopped from litigating this issue before us by the proceedings of the local court.

D. ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE VIOLATION

Plaintiff claims to be an atheist and alleges that the spiritual nature of the AA program he attended as a condition of his probation deprived him of the rights guaranteed by the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.

1. Constitutional Standards

The Supreme Court's treatment of the Establishment Clause has undergone substantial changes during the last half of this century, questioning practices that were common during the first 150 years following the passage of the First Amendment. We suspect that we have not seen the last of these changes. The Supreme Court once noted that "we are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being." Zorach v. Clauson, 343 U.S. 306, 313, 72 S.Ct. 679, 684, 96 L.Ed. 954 (1952). The Court has further noted that:

the fact that the Founding Fathers believed devotedly that there was a God and that the unalienable rights of man were rooted in Him is clearly evidenced in their writings.... This is not to say, however, that religion has been so identified with our history and government that religious freedom is not likewise as strongly imbedded in our public and private life.

School Dist. of Abington Township v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203, 213-14, 83 S.Ct. 1560, 1566-67, 10 L.Ed.2d 844 (1963). "`Although Establishment Clause jurisprudence is characterized by few absolutes,' at a minimum `the Clause does absolutely prohibit government-financed or government-sponsored indoctrination into the beliefs of a particular religious faith.'" Zobrest v. Catalina Foothills School Dist., ___ U.S. ___, ___, 113 S.Ct. 2462, 2473, 125 L.Ed.2d 1 (1993) (BLACKMUN, J. dissenting) (quoting Grand Rapids School Dist. v. Ball, 473 U.S. 373, 385, 105 S.Ct. 3216, 3223, 87 L.Ed.2d 267 (1985)). The First Amendment "did not simply bar a congressional enactment establis...