Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Ass'n v. State Racing Commission

532 N.E.2d 644, 403 Mass. 692, 4 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 147, 1989 Mass. LEXIS 12
CourtMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
DecidedJanuary 9, 1989
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 532 N.E.2d 644 (Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Ass'n v. State Racing Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Ass'n v. State Racing Commission, 532 N.E.2d 644, 403 Mass. 692, 4 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 147, 1989 Mass. LEXIS 12 (Mass. 1989).

Opinions

Hennessey, C.J.

The plaintiff filed suit in the Supreme Judicial Court for Suffolk County seeking a declaration that the “human drug testing” regulation adopted by the State Racing Commission (commission), 205 Code Mass. Regs. § 4.57 (1986), violates the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, arts. 1, 10, 12, and 14 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act, G. L. c. 12, § 111 (1986 ed.), and the right of privacy statute, G. L. c. 214, § IB (1986 ed.), and that the regulation’s provision permitting immediate suspension of licensees who test positive or who refuse to provide a urine sample violates the procedural due process guarantees of the Fourteenth Amendment and art. 12. The regulation institutes a broad program of testing at random of persons within the class, and also of persons who are under “reasonable suspicion” of drug use. The plaintiff sought preliminary and permanent injunctions against the commission to enjoin any drug testing. A single justice of this court transferred the case to the Superior Court in Suffolk County. G. L. c. 211, § 4A (1986 ed.).

The Superior Court judge denied the plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction. The plaintiff appealed to a single justice of the Appeals Court. The single justice issued an injunction, enjoining the defendant from implementing the drug testing program pending submission to the Superior Court of a [694]*694statement of agreed facts and entry of judgment by the Superior Court. The parties subsequently filed a statement of facts which left open one factual issue for trial — what percentage of initially negative test results were false. The Superior Court judge, after hearing the expert testimony presented by the parties, ruled that “there was not enough evidence presented for making the requested finding of fact” and that “the whole subject of ‘false-negatives’ ... is speculative.” The judge decided the case strictly on the basis of the statement of agreed facts.

The Superior Court judge ruled that the drug testing program violates the Fourth Amendment and permanently enjoined the commission from coercing its licensees to submit to the urine testing. Only the defendant appeals. We granted its application for direct appellate review. We agree with the result reached by the Superior Court judge. However, we need not consider this case in the context of the Fourth Amendment, because we now conclude that the drug testing program, in both the testing at random and on “reasonable suspicion,” is unconstitutional under art. 14 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights.1 We cite and make reference to Fourth Amendment cases only by way of analogy.

The summary of relevant facts is taken from the statement of agreed facts and its supplement. The plaintiff, the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, Inc. (association), is a national nonprofit organization which strives to protect the interests of trainers and owners of thoroughbred horses, and their employees, with respect to the establishment of proper rules and conditions in the horse racing industry. The Massachusetts-New Hampshire division of the association has approximately 4,000 members who are owners or trainers of thoroughbred horses which compete in races the commission licenses and regulates.

[695]*695The commission has the authority, pursuant to G. L. c. 128A (1986 ed.), to regulate horse and dog racing in Massachusetts. The commission’s powers include the prescription of “rules, regulations and conditions under which all horse . . . races at horse . . . racing meetings shall be conducted.” G. L. c. 128A, § 9. See G. L. c. 128A, § 9A.

In 1986, the commission promulgated the “human drug testing” regulation, 205 Code Mass. Regs. § 4.57 (1986) (see Appendix), and issued a “human drug testing policy and procedure” to be followed in enforcing the drug testing regulation. The commission instituted its drug testing program based on its determination that it serves the best interest of racing to deter the use of illegal drugs at Massachusetts race tracks, and that the use and abuse of illegal drugs by licensees, whether on or off licensed premises, jeopardizes and compromises the safety of the participants, as well as the integrity of the industry. The commission had received information from Suffolk Downs’s security and commission personnel regarding drug abuse at the Suffolk Downs race track. The efforts of the commission and the State police to investigate drug abuse through conventional means had proved unsuccessful. The parties agree that lay personnel could detect and recognize behavioral changes — tardiness, decrease in workload, and absences — as evidence of possible drug or alcohol abuse.

The regulation prohibits any licensee, while on racing grounds, from having present within his or her system, any controlled substance, as listed in 21 U.S.C. § 812, Schedules I-V (1982), or any wrongfully obtained prescription legend drug. The regulation provides that any licensee — owner, trainer, veterinarian, blacksmith, stable employee, jockey, jockey’s apprentice or agent — may be subject to urinalysis based either on reasonable suspicion, or on random, without cause, selection. The parties define “reasonable suspicion” as “the existence of reasonable circumstances, reports, information or reasonable direct observation . . . leading to the belief] . . . that a licensee is using illegal drugs.” Although the regulation provides that any licensee is subject to random testing or testing based on reasonable suspicion, the policy allows, and, in prac[696]*696tice, the commission has conducted, testing only on days that a licensee is “actively participating” in a race. Refusal to provide a sample results in immediate suspension of the licensee for thirty days; readmittance is conditioned on proof of a negative test result.

For the random testing, the stewards place the names of all licensees involved in that day’s racing program into a bag. Representatives of the Jockey’s Guild and the association are present for the random selection of licensees and are allowed to inspect the names of the pool of licensees. The stewards then notify the persons chosen, by telephone or the public address system at the track, to report to the security office.

The testing procedure is similar for random testing and for testing based on “reasonable suspicion.” When each licensee arrives at the security office, a steward gives him or her a bottle with a number and a tag affixed to it and directs the licensee to the bathroom to produce a urine sample. The regulation states that all samples “shall be collected in the presence of a Commission Steward or . . . designee.” 205 Code Mass. Regs. § 4.57(6) (1986). The policy provides, with respect to random testing, that a State trooper, inspector, or designee accompany the licensee while the sample is given and “take every precaution to avoid tampering or counterfeit samples.” It states further that a licensee should be afforded maximum privacy, with the designated person remaining outside the bathroom, unless there is reason to believe that the licensee may tamper with the sample. If, however, the testing is based on “reasonable suspicion,” the policy requires that the sample be given “in the presence of” a State trooper or a commission inspector, or both.

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Bluebook (online)
532 N.E.2d 644, 403 Mass. 692, 4 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 147, 1989 Mass. LEXIS 12, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/horsemens-benevolent-protective-assn-v-state-racing-commission-mass-1989.