Barrett v. Claycomb

936 F. Supp. 2d 1099, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 162092, 2013 WL 1397822
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Missouri
DecidedMarch 22, 2013
DocketNo. 2:11-CV-04242-NKL
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 936 F. Supp. 2d 1099 (Barrett v. Claycomb) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barrett v. Claycomb, 936 F. Supp. 2d 1099, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 162092, 2013 WL 1397822 (W.D. Mo. 2013).

Opinion

ORDER

NANETTE K. LAUGHREY, District Judge.

Before the Court is Plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction [Doc. # 139]. For the reasons set forth below, Plaintiffs’ motion is GRANTED and a preliminary injunction is issued, with the language oi; the same set out at the conclusion of this Order.

I. Background

Linn State Technical College (‘‘Linn State”) is a public two-year college located in Linn, Missouri, which was established and continues to operate under Missouri statutes. Linn State offers about twenty different programs for the roughly 1,150 to 1,200 students who attend the institution. On average, 500 new students enroll at Linn State each year. The programs offered by Linn State can be divided into four, general divisions: mechanical, electrical, civil, and computer. Each of these programs is further divided into more specialized areas. As a technical school, many of the programs offered by Linn State involve a substantial component of hands-on training and manual exercises.

On' June 17, 2011, Linn State’s Board of Regents adopted a mandatory drug-screening policy. Beginning in the fall of 2011, Linn State students' were required, as a condition of admission, to sign a form acknowledging the new drug-testing policy and that refusal to participate in the testing program would result in administrative of student-initiated withdrawal. Oh September 6, 2011, Linn State issued a series of procedures by which it would conduct the drug testing. These written procedures provided, inter alia, that students could petition Linn State’s President to be excused from participation in the drug-testing' program. Linn State began drug testing students on September 7, 2011.

On September 14, 2011, the named Plaintiffs initiated this action and immediately moved to enjoin Linn State’s testing program. After an October 25, 2011 hearing on Plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction, the Court granted the motion. Defendants then filed an interlocutory appeal challenging this decision.

On January 29, 2013, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the preliminary injunction. Barrett v. Claycomb, 705 F.3d 315, 318 (8th Cir.2013). This decision was based “heavily on the- nature of the relief [Plaintiffs] sought by way of a preliminary injunction.” Id. at 320-21, 324 (“Our holding ... is closely linked to the nature of the relief [Plaintiffs] sought in this case.”). Specifically, because Plaintiffs brought a facial challenge to Linn State’s testing policy, they had to “establish some degree of success on the merits” that “no set of circumstances exists under which the [drug-testing policy] would be valid.” Id. at 321 (quotation omitted). -In concluding [1102]*1102that Plaintiffs had failed to satisfy this requirement, the court remarked, “Although Linn State’s drug-testing policy may have some unconstitutional applications, we are unable to say that it is unconstitutional on its face in every conceivable circumstances.” Id. at 324. The Court of Appeals particularly objected to the prior injunction’s application to unknown, future students because, in theory, “every future student could enroll in a program where suspicionless testing would be constitutionally permitted.” Id.

Following this decision, Plaintiffs abandoned their facial challenge and elected to proceed on the theory that the policy was unconstitutional as applied to the students tested in September 2011. Plaintiffs accordingly moved to enjoin any further testing or the reporting of the results of the testing of the samples taken in September 2011.

Subsequently, several teleconferences were held in an effort to reach an agreement on how to maintain the status quo, with due regard for the constitutional applications of the drug-testing policy recognized by the Court of Appeals, while trying the merits, of Plaintiffs’ as-applied challenge, but no agreement was reached. The parties each provided supplemental briefings on the current motion for a preliminary injunction and agreed that the Court should consider the evidence presented at the October 25, 2011 hearing on Plaintiffs’ first motion for a preliminary injunction. The parties were also offered the opportunity to present additional evidence, but they declined to do so. Consequently, the Court is again in the position of having to resolve the preliminary injunction motion on an incomplete factual record.

II. Discussion

Plaintiffs move for a preliminary injunction pending the resolution of their as-applied challenge to Linn State’s drug-testing policy. In deciding whether to grant injunctive relief, the Court considers four factors: “ ‘(1) the threat of irreparable harm to the movant; (2) the state of balance between this harm and the injury that granting the injunction will inflict on other parties litigant; (3) the probability that movant will succeed on the merits; and (4) the public interest.’ ” Barrett v. Claycomb, 705 F.3d 315, 320 (8th Cir.2013) (quoting Dataphase Sys., Inc. v. C L Syst., Inc., 640 F.2d 109, 114 (8th Cir.1981) (en banc)). The Eighth Circuit’s decision on the interlocutory appeal addressed only the “most significant” of these factors: the likelihood of success on the merits. Id. (quoting S.J.W. ex rel. Wilson v. Lee’s Summit R-7 Sch. Dist., 696 F.3d 771, 776 (8th Cir.2012)).

As such, the Eighth Circuit’s decision did not disturb the Court’s prior findings on the other three preliminary injunction factors and the parties have submitted no new evidence or argument with respect to these factors. The Court thus adopts its prior conclusions as to these three factors, for the reasons set forth in its Order dated February 18, 2011. See [Doc. # 99]. Accordingly, a preliminary injunction should issue if Plaintiffs can show the requisite likelihood of success on the merits.

Plaintiffs proceed on the theory that Linn State’s drug-testing policy was unconstitutional as applied to some or all of the students tested in September 2011. The Court of Appeals’ decision on the interlocutory appeal did not address this issue, though it did suggest that the policy may have unconstitutional applications. Barrett, 705 F.3d at 324 (“Although Linn State’s drug-testing policy may have some unconstitutional applications, we are unable to say that it is unconstitutional on its face in every conceivable circumstance.”). Before considering the likelihood that [1103]*1103Plaintiffs will succeed on their as-applied challenge, however, the Court must address the degree of success on the merits that Plaintiffs must show at this stage.

A. The Fair Chance of Prevailing Standard Applies

The Eighth Circuit has articulated two standards for determining whether a moving party has established a likelihood of success on the merits. “[Pjarties moving to preliminarily enjoin a statute or regulation must establish that they are ‘likely to prevail on the merits,’ because such promulgations came about by a ‘presumptively reasoned democratic process!!].’” Barrett, 705 F.3d at 324 n, 4 (quoting

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Bluebook (online)
936 F. Supp. 2d 1099, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 162092, 2013 WL 1397822, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barrett-v-claycomb-mowd-2013.