Women's Emergency Network v. Dickinson, 02-20172-CIV.
| Decision Date | 12 July 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. 02-20172-CIV.,02-20172-CIV. |
| Citation | 214 F.Supp.2d 1308 |
| Parties | WOMEN'S EMERGENCY NETWORK, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Fred DICKINSON, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Florida |
Brigitte Amri, Priscilla Smith, Hillary Schwab, Louis M. Silber, Silber & Valente, West Palm Beach, FL, for Plaintiff.
Parker D. Thomson, Carol Licko, Hogan & Hartson, L.L.P., Miami, Leon St. John, Palm Beach County Attorney's Office, West Palm Beach, James J. Dean, Messer, Caparello & Self, P.A., Tallahassee, FL, for Defendant.
THIS CAUSE is before the Court upon the State Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment (DE # 135); Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment and/or Renewed Motion for Preliminary Injunction (DE # 125); and Defendants-Intervenors' Motion for Summary Judgment (DE # 143).
UPON CONSIDERATION of the motions, the memoranda filed in support and opposition thereof and the pertinent portions of the record, and being otherwise fully advised in the premises, the Court enters the following Order granting the State's motion and the Defendant-Intervenors' motion, but denying Plaintiffs' motion.
This action challenges the constitutionality of Florida's "Choose Life" specialty license plate scheme, as codified at Fla. Stat. §§ 320.08058(30) and 320.08056(4)(dd) ("the Act"). The Act requires the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles ("the Department") to create a specialty license plate bearing the message "Choose Life." The Department then charges each consumer who wants to display the specialty plate on his or her automobile an annual use fee of $20. See Fla. Stat. § 320.08056(4)(dd). Thereafter, the Department distributes the annual use fees "annually to each county in the ratio that the annual use fees collected by each county bears to the total fees collected for the plates within the state." Fla. Stat. § 320.08058(30)(b).
The counties then distribute the funds generated from the sale of Choose Life license plates as follows:
Each county shall distribute the funds to nongovernmental, not-for-profit agencies within the county, which agencies' services are limited to counseling and meeting the physical needs of pregnant women who are committed to placing their children for adoption. Funds may not be distributed to any agency that is involved or associated with abortion activities, including counseling for or referrals to abortion clinics, providing medical abortion-related procedures, or proabortion advertising, and funds may not be distributed to any agency that charges women for services received.
Id. Additionally, the Act imposes certain restrictions on the use of the funds once distributed, and requires the recipient agencies to "submit an annual audit, prepared by a certified public accountant, to the county."1 Fla. Stat. § 320.08058(30)(b)(1)-(3).
Plaintiffs allege that the Choose Life license plates were released to the public in August 2000 and that the Department has distributed more than 34,134 plates generating at least $682,674 in revenue. In August 2001, the Department distributed to counties $426,639.94 in annual use fees generated from the sale of Choose Life license plates from February 2000 through May 2001. Palm Beach and Miami-Dade Counties have not distributed any Choose Life funds, and through their respective counsel, have represented that they do not intend to do so until the resolution of this case. On the other hand, Hillsborough County has distributed all of the funds received by it under the Choose Life scheme.
Plaintiffs in this action are Women's Emergency Network (WEN), Joshua Becker and Dawn Jackson. WEN is a non-profit agency located in Miami-Dade County that provides services to low-income pregnant women. Specifically, WEN is a telephone referral service made up of volunteers who refer clients to four different clinics for abortions. WEN provides these referrals based upon informal agreements with the clinics and WEN does not audit how its funds are spent. WEN has not applied for funds under the Act, but alleges instead that it would like to apply for and receive funds from Miami-Dade County under the Act. However, WEN acknowledges that it is ineligible to receive funds because it engages in referrals to abortions clinics. WEN presents a facial challenge to the Act under the First Amendment. More specifically, WEN argues that the Act violates its right to free speech by forcing it to choose between speech about abortion and eligibility to receive funds under the Act.
Plaintiffs Joshua Becker and Dawn Jackson are residents and taxpayers in Palm Beach and Leon Counties, respectively. Jackson also pays taxes in Hillsborough County on property that she owns there. Becker and Jackson argue that they have taxpayer standing to challenge the delegation of governmental authority to religious organizations. They further allege that they have individual standing to assert free speech claims where they are unable to purchase specialty plates expressing their pro-choice views. They argue that while they would like to purchase pro-choice plates, they are unable to do so because the Act discriminates on the basis of viewpoint where it opens a forum for speech about abortion, but only permits the expression of the pro-life view.
Defendants in this action are Fred Dickinson, as Executive Director of the Department (the "State"), and Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Hillsborough Counties.2 Additionally, four Defendants recently intervened. Those Defendants are two individuals, Patricia Morris and Edwina Booth, and two organizations, First Care Pregnancy Center ("First Care") and JMJ Life Center ("JMJ").
As stated, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade Counties have not distributed any Choose Life funds. On the contrary, Hillsborough County has distributed all of the funds that it has received under the Choose Life scheme. Specifically, Hillsborough County designated Catholic Charities, Diocese of St. Petersburg, Inc. ("Catholic Charities") as the lead agency or fiscal agent for distribution of Choose Life funds to recipient agencies in Hillsborough County. The County then issued a public notice in an effort to alert qualified agencies of the availability of funds under the Choose Life program. Thereafter, with Catholic Charities acting as the fiscal agent, each qualifying and participating agency in Hillsborough County was allotted an equal amount of the total amount of Choose Life funds received by the County.
Defendants Patricia Morris and Edwina Booth are residents of Palm Beach and Seminole Counties, respectively. They each purchased a Choose Life specialty license plate as a means of supporting adoption and groups that provide adoption and adoption-related services. They argue that the redress sought by Plaintiffs would serve only to violate their rights to free speech.
Defendants First Care and JMJ are located in Palm Beach and Orange Counties, respectively. They are nongovernmental, non-profit agencies that counsel and meet the physical needs of pregnant women who are committed to placing their children for adoption. Neither agency is involved in or associated with abortion activities. Nor do they counsel or refer abortions, provide medical abortion-related procedures, or advertise in favor of abortions. Accordingly, First Care and JMJ are potential recipients of funds from the "Choose Life" license plate scheme.
In the instant motion, the State moves the Court for summary judgment pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56. Likewise, Defendant-Intervenors also move the Court for summary judgment. In support of these motions, the State Defendants and Defendant-Intervenors argue, in part, that Plaintiffs lack standing. The Court agrees that Plaintiffs lack standing and, as such, the State's motion for summary judgment is GRANTED and the Defendant-Intervenors' motion for summary judgment is GRANTED. Plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment is DENIED.
The applicable standard for reviewing a summary judgment motion is unambiguously stated in Rule 56(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure:
The judgment sought shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
Summary judgment may be entered only where there is no genuine issue of material fact. Twiss v. Kury, 25 F.3d 1551, 1554 (11th Cir.1994). The moving party has the burden of meeting this exacting standard. Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 157, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970). An issue of fact is "material" if it is a legal element of the claim under the applicable substantive law which might affect the outcome of the case. Allen v. Tyson Foods, Inc., 121 F.3d 642, 646 (11th Cir.1997). It is "genuine" if the record taken as a whole could lead a rational trier of fact to find for the nonmoving party. Id.
In applying this standard, the district court must view the evidence and all factual inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion. Id. However, the non-moving party:
may not rest upon the mere allegations or denials of the adverse party's pleading, but the adverse party's response, by affidavits or as otherwise provided in this rule, must set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.
Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e). "The mere existence of a scintilla of evidence in support of the [non-movant's] position will be insufficient; there must be evidence on which the jury could reasonably find for the [non-movant]." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 252, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).
In other words, the party opposing summary judgment "must do more than simply show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material...
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