Howard Gault Co., Texas Citrus and Vegetable Association, Formerly "Texas Citrus & Vegetable Growers and Shippers, Inc.", Plaintiffs-Counter Cross v. Texas Rural Legal Aid, Inc., Cross-Appellants, Jesus Moya, Defendant-Counter Cross-Appellant. Texas Farm Workers Union, Cross-Appellants, Delia Gamez-Prince, Cross-Appellant v. Joe Brown, (Successor in Office to Travis McPherson Defendants- Cross-Appellee

848 F.2d 544, 128 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2890, 1988 U.S. App. LEXIS 8934
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedJune 30, 1988
Docket85-1572
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 848 F.2d 544 (Howard Gault Co., Texas Citrus and Vegetable Association, Formerly "Texas Citrus & Vegetable Growers and Shippers, Inc.", Plaintiffs-Counter Cross v. Texas Rural Legal Aid, Inc., Cross-Appellants, Jesus Moya, Defendant-Counter Cross-Appellant. Texas Farm Workers Union, Cross-Appellants, Delia Gamez-Prince, Cross-Appellant v. Joe Brown, (Successor in Office to Travis McPherson Defendants- Cross-Appellee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Howard Gault Co., Texas Citrus and Vegetable Association, Formerly "Texas Citrus & Vegetable Growers and Shippers, Inc.", Plaintiffs-Counter Cross v. Texas Rural Legal Aid, Inc., Cross-Appellants, Jesus Moya, Defendant-Counter Cross-Appellant. Texas Farm Workers Union, Cross-Appellants, Delia Gamez-Prince, Cross-Appellant v. Joe Brown, (Successor in Office to Travis McPherson Defendants- Cross-Appellee, 848 F.2d 544, 128 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2890, 1988 U.S. App. LEXIS 8934 (5th Cir. 1988).

Opinion

848 F.2d 544

128 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2890, 57 USLW 2035,
109 Lab.Cas. P 55,908

HOWARD GAULT CO., et al., Plaintiffs,
Texas Citrus and Vegetable Association, formerly "Texas
Citrus & Vegetable Growers and Shippers, Inc.",
Plaintiffs-Counter Defendants,
Appellants, Cross- Appellees,
v.
TEXAS RURAL LEGAL AID, INC., et al., Defendants, Cross-Appellants,
Jesus Moya, Defendant-Counter Plaintiff Appellee, Cross-Appellant.
TEXAS FARM WORKERS UNION, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees
Cross-Appellants,
Delia Gamez-Prince, Plaintiff-Appellee, Cross-Appellant,
v.
Joe BROWN, (successor in office to Travis McPherson), et
al., Defendants- Appellants, Cross-Appellee.

No. 85-1572.

United States Court of Appeals,
Fifth Circuit.

June 30, 1988.

Neil Norquest, McAllen, Tex., for Texas Citrus & Vegetable Assoc. and Joe Brown Ewers & Toothaker.

Michael E. Avakian, Terran W. Mast, North Springfield, Va., for amicus The Center on Nat. Labor Policy, Inc.

W. Carl Jordan, Thomas H. Wilson, Houston, Tex., for amicus Assoc. of Gen. Contractors of America, Texas Chapter.

Javier P. Guajardo, Mary F. Keller, Asst. Attys. Gen., Austin, Tex., for amicus State of Tex.

William H. Beardall, Texas Rural Legal Aid, Inc., Farmworker Div., Weslaco, Tex., for Moya and Prince.

Edward B. Cloutman, III, Dallas, Tex., for Texas Rural Legal Aid.

David Van Os, Austin, Tex., for amicus Texas AFL-CIO.

Norma Cantu, San Antonio, Tex., for amicus Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund (in support of appellees Texas Rural Legal Aid).

Peter Linzer, Univ. of Houston Law Center, Houston, Tex., for amicus Texas Civil Liberties Union.

John Arneson, New York City, for Texas Farm Workers.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Before BROWN, RUBIN, and HIGGINBOTHAM, Circuit Judges:

JOHN R. BROWN, Circuit Judge:

This case comes to us on appeal from a judgment of the District Court declaring, inter alia, Texas Revised Civil Statutes (Mass Picketing Statutes) article 5154d Secs. 1(1),1 22 and 3,3 article 5154f4 Secs. 2(b), 2(d) and 2(e), and article 5154g Sec. 25 to be unconstitutional. The District Court additionally held that the civil rights of Jesus Moya were violated by individuals acting under color of state law, and awarded damages. Gault v. TRLA, 615 F.Supp. 916 (N.D.Tex.1985). In a companion case also decided today, Nash v. Chandler, 848 F.2d 567 (5th Cir. June 30, 1988), the District Court for the Eastern District of Texas likewise held Article 5154d to be unconstitutional. We affirm in part and reverse in part the decisions of the District Courts that these statutes are unconstitutional. We affirm the decision of the District Court that Moya's civil rights were violated by persons acting under color of state law. The damage award is affirmed also.

This case arose out of two separate lawsuits which were consolidated for purposes of trial. Suit no. 127 raised the civil rights claim; suit no. 129 challenged the constitutionality of the Texas Mass Picketing Statutes. For purposes of this appeal, the two suits will be treated separately. Finding no clear error, we affirm the judgment awarding Jesus Moya $500.00 for the violation of his First Amendment rights by individuals acting under color of state law. The constitutional issues require a more detailed analysis.

Article 5154d Sec. 3, which criminalizes any oral misrepresentation without any standard of fault, is unconstitutionally overbroad and cannot stand. Likewise, article 5154g Sec. 2 is clearly an unconstitutional infringement on an employee's First Amendment right of association, and we affirm this holding of the lower court. Article 5154d Sec. 1(1) and article 5154f Secs. 2(d) and 2(e) unconstitutionally infringe on protected rights and interests. Article 5154f Sec. 2(b) and article 5154d Sec. 2 have been interpreted in such a way as to render them constitutional.

The Onion Field

This case grew out of an attempt by the Texas Farm Workers Union (TFWU) to organize onion harvest and packing shed workers at the Hereford, Deaf Smith County, Texas onion fields. Delia Gamez-Prince, Jesus Moya and others acting for TFWU began establishing picket lines around certain onion fields in the area. At the height of the strike, several hundred demonstrators were on the picket lines.

Texas Rural Legal Aid, Inc. (TRLA) is a federally funded legal aid organization with an office in Hereford. Several TRLA attorneys were at the picket lines on numerous occasions to render legal advice. The TRLA attorneys informed the workers of their rights and were present to mediate between the workers and the growers.

Seventeen growers, packers, and trade associations, determined to put a stop to the picketing, filed suit in Texas state court against the TRLA, the TFWU, individual TRLA attorneys who had been at the picket lines, and Jesus Moya. The suit alleged that numerous violations of Texas picketing statutes had been committed, including conspiracy to trespass, to block entrances, to use obscenity and to engage in illegal mass picketing. The suit also alleged that TRLA violated the provisions of the Legal Services Corporation Act by improperly spending federal money to support union organizing activities.

The attorneys who represented the growers, Roland Saul, Jerry Smith and Don Davis, were also employed by Deaf Smith County as Criminal District Attorneys. While preparing the growers' state court petition, these attorneys contacted the Texas Attorney General's office to discuss the constitutionality and enforceability of the Mass Picketing Statutes. At trial, the growers' lead counsel testified that he sought relief under these statutes because of advice given by the Attorney General's office.6

The picketing statutes authorize county or district attorneys to institute suits for injunctive relief for picketing violations.7 Conduct which would give rise to a criminal prosecution could thus easily be the subject of a civil lawsuit. In their official capacity, Saul, Smith, and Davis were vested with the authority to bring a criminal prosecution in the name of the State. As private attorneys, they were engaged to protect the interests of the growers. Throughout this litigation, all three attorneys appeared to view the picketing activities from both sides of the fence: as civil attorneys and as criminal prosecutors.

Straddling the Legal Fence

Attorney Saul interviewed several deputy sheriffs about the situation on the picket lines, and at trial admitted his interest encompassed both the civil and criminal aspects. Affidavits obtained by Saul from two of the deputies were used to support the issuance of the TRO.

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848 F.2d 544, 128 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2890, 1988 U.S. App. LEXIS 8934, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/howard-gault-co-texas-citrus-and-vegetable-association-formerly-texas-ca5-1988.