Ellis v. O'Hara

105 F.R.D. 556, 25 Educ. L. Rep. 282, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20779
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Missouri
DecidedApril 12, 1985
DocketNo. 84-690C(1)
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 105 F.R.D. 556 (Ellis v. O'Hara) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ellis v. O'Hara, 105 F.R.D. 556, 25 Educ. L. Rep. 282, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20779 (E.D. Mo. 1985).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

NANGLE, Chief Judge.

This matter is now before this Court on plaintiffs’ motion for class action certification pursuant to Rules 23(b)(1) and (b)(2). Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b)(1), (b)(2). The parties submitted numerous briefs, documents and affidavits to this Court both in support of and in opposition to plaintiffs’ motion. In addition, this Court heard testimony on plaintiffs’ motion on December 27, 1984. Pursuant to Rule 23(c)(1), this Court makes the following findings of fact and conclusions of law.

A. FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Plaintiffs David E. Ellis and Deneen Ellis are named parties to this action and now reside in the State of New Mexico.

2. Plaintiff Charles A. Bowles resides in the State of Missouri. He has three children who are educated at home for religious reasons.

3. Plaintiff Marcia Bowles is the wife of Charles Bowles. She has assumed the responsibility of educating her three children at home for religious reasons. Juvenile court proceedings have been instituted against the Bowles for educational neglect.

4. Plaintiff Families For Home Education (FHE) is a not-for-profit corporation, composed of approximately 400 families throughout the State of Missouri who maintain an interest in home education almost exclusively for religious reasons.

5. Saralee Rhoads is a director of FHE, and has personally undertaken the responsibility of educating her three children at home. She has been threatened with juvenile proceedings for educational neglect.

6. Audrey Taylor is the St. Louis area coordinator for FHE. She educates her children at home for religious reasons. She is aware of five families against whom juvenile proceedings have been instituted because they choose to educate their children at home. She knows of other families who have been threatened with such juvenile proceedings. Mrs. Taylor is not a named plaintiff to this lawsuit.

7. Plaintiffs have named twenty-nine separate defendants. These include the Missouri Division of Family Services, the Missouri Department of Social Services, the Commissioner of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, various employees and supervisors of the Missouri Department of Family Services, various juvenile officers of the circuit courts of Missouri, some state appointed guardians ad litem for several home educated children, two school districts and several school district officials.

8. Plaintiffs’ complaint is in seventeen counts. They seek to have the Missouri compulsory education statute, § 167.031 R.S.Mo.1978, declared invalid, along with the statutes which provide for extensive investigation of parents engaged in home education when these parents are accused of educational neglect. Plaintiffs additionally seek to have the pattern of enforcement of said statutes declared unconstitutional. Plaintiffs request declaratory, in-junctive and monetary relief. Plaintiffs’ principle purpose in bringing this action is to clear the way for them to provide a religious based education for their children at home without undue intrusion by [559]*559government officials and without fear of educational neglect proceedings.

9. Plaintiffs seek certification of the following plaintiffs’ class:

Parents who choose to exercise their rights of religious liberty that are guaranteed in the first amendment and who offer their children at home an education that is Christ-centered and based on the Holy Bible, and who can be investigated or prosecuted by virtue of proceedings filed in state courts of competent jurisdiction by state officials who are delegated power by the Missouri compulsory school attendance laws that are challenged by the named plaintiffs.

10. In addition, plaintiffs seek certification of a defendants’ class which they identify as follows:

All juvenile officers, guardians ad litem appointed by juvenile courts, school officials, Division of Family Service employees, and local law enforcement officers who are delegated power under the challenged state statutes to utilize state courts to investigate parents who choose to offer their children at home an education that is Christ-centered and based on the Holy Bible.

11. The juvenile officer who was assigned to the Bowles’ case testified that she became compelled to institute neglect proceedings against these particular plaintiffs because they denied her access to their teaching materials and provided her with no insight into their curriculum. Had she been afforded access to some of these materials or been apprised of the use of a prepared curriculum, she would not have instituted such proceedings.

12. In addition, Mrs. Marguerita Sweeney, the supervisor of the child abuse and neglect hot line which is operated by the Missouri Department of Family Services testified that she rarely receives reports of neglect against parents who provide Christian education for their children at home. In the year 1984, she received only five substantiated complaints of educational neglect.

B. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

Plaintiffs seek certification of a plaintiffs’ class under Rules 23(b)(1) and 23(b)(2). Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b)(1), (b)(2). They seek certification of the defendants’ class under Rule 23(b)(2). Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b)(2). In determining whether to certify a class, courts should not inquire into whether the plaintiffs state a cause of action or whether they will prevail on the merits; the essential issue is whether the plaintiffs establish the requirements of Rule 23. Eisen v. Carlisle & Jacquelin, 417 U.S. 156, 177, 94 S.Ct. 2140, 2152, 40 L.Ed.2d 732 (1974). Therefore, this Court will not delve into the merits of plaintiffs’ claims for the purpose of determining whether a class action is appropriate. This Court further notes that plaintiffs maintain the burden of demonstrating that Rule 23 requirements are satisfied. Bishop v. Committee on Professional Ethics and Conduct of the Iowa State Bar Assoc., 686 F.2d 1278, 1288 (8th Cir.1982).

Plaintiffs’ Class

The four prerequisites to any type of class action are found in Rule 23(a), and the first such prerequisite is “numerosity”. Rule 23(a)(1) requires that “the class be so numerous that joinder of all members is impractical____” Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(a)(1). In evaluating whether this requirement is met, courts should consider such factors as the number of persons in the proposed class, the nature of the action, the size of the individual claims and the inconvenience of trying individual suits. Paxton v. Union National Bank, 688 F.2d 552, 559 (8th Cir.1982). Plaintiffs here have shown that FHE is composed of approximately 400 families who claim to be members of the class, and there are additional unidentified class' members in the state. This Court concludes that a class consisting of over 400 families clearly is so numerous that joinder of its members is impractical. See, e.g., Horn v. Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc., 555 F.2d 270, 275-76 (10th Cir. 1977); Arkansas Education Assoc. v. Board of Education, Portland, Arkansas [560]*560School District,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
105 F.R.D. 556, 25 Educ. L. Rep. 282, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20779, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ellis-v-ohara-moed-1985.