Jean P. Lynch, Individually and on Behalf of All Persons Similarly Situated, Jesse M. Hughes, Intervening v. William J. Baxley, Etc.

744 F.2d 1452, 1984 U.S. App. LEXIS 17328
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedOctober 26, 1984
Docket82-7346
StatusPublished
Cited by75 cases

This text of 744 F.2d 1452 (Jean P. Lynch, Individually and on Behalf of All Persons Similarly Situated, Jesse M. Hughes, Intervening v. William J. Baxley, Etc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jean P. Lynch, Individually and on Behalf of All Persons Similarly Situated, Jesse M. Hughes, Intervening v. William J. Baxley, Etc., 744 F.2d 1452, 1984 U.S. App. LEXIS 17328 (11th Cir. 1984).

Opinion

CLARK, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiffs-appellants seek to enjoin the defendant officials of the state of Alabama from detaining in county jails persons awaiting mental illness involuntary commitment proceedings. 1 The class alleges that the incarceration provided for in the emergency detention provision of the Alabama civil commitment statute deprives them of due process, constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and denies them equal protection of the laws.

This case marks a continuation of wide-ranging litigation which began in 1974 as an attack on the constitutionality of Alabama’s civil commitment procedures. Lynch v. Baxley, 386 F.Supp. 378 (M.D.Ala.1974) (Ly nch I). The class certified in that case contained all persons who were or would be involuntarily civilly committed in Alabama. The three-judge district court found that the commitment statute then in effect violated due process in large part because it allowed detention without a probable cause hearing within a reasonable time, failed to require the presence of the person being committed and appointed counsel at the hearing and contained ill-defined standards for commitment. In response to the judgment of the court, which included an injunction against involuntary commitments under the old system, Alabama enacted a new civil commitment statute in 1975. The new statute provided for a probable cause hearing within 7 days of detention and a final hearing within 30 days of receipt of the commitment petition (§ 22-52-8), the appointment of an attorney (§ 22-52-4) and the presence of that attorney and the person to be committed at all hearings (§ 22-52-9) and established a clear standard for determining whether commitment was appropriate (§ 22-52-10). 2

In 1977, the class filed a Motion for Further Relief arguing that other provisions of the new statute, those allowing emergency detention in jails until the commitment hearings are held (§§ 22-52-7 and 22-52-8), violated due process, constituted cruel and unusual punishment and deprived them of equal protection. 3 Appellants re *1455 tained the same elass and class representatives as in the original action. Discovery, which involved sending interrogatories on the terms and conditions of jail detention to all county probate judges, ensued for two years. The district court then dismissed the case without prejudice finding that there was no proof that the named plaintiffs had standing to seek relief from the new statute. On appeal, a panel of this court held that the original plaintiffs no longer had standing. 4 Lynch v. Baxley, 651 F.2d 387 (5th Cir. Unit B 1981) (Lynch II). Lack of standing by the named plaintiffs, however, was not found to be determinative. The Lynch II court found that the class retained a legal status separate from that of the named plaintiffs and that although the class had been truncated by the passage of the new civil commitment statute the claims of those members upon whom the emergency detention provision would operate remained viable. 651 F.2d at 388. The court then remanded the case with instructions to allow time for the intervention of plaintiffs with standing to represent the interests of the class.. Id. at 388-89. In response to the district court order complying with the Lynch II mandate, counsel for the plaintiffs made a motion to amend the complaint adding David Bruce Pearcy as a party plaintiff in the case. The district court granted that motion and then proceeded to rule against the plaintiffs on their constitutional claims (September 30, 1982). The class then appealed that judgment to this court. During oral argument, a question was raised as to whether this action presented a case or controversy. The amendment to the pleading making Pearcy a class representative indicated that at the time it was filed Pearcy was no longer being held in a county jail but had been committed to a state hospital. Unable to determine whether the named plaintiff had standing to represent the class, this court remanded the case to the district court to make that determination (January 18, 1984). Pursuant to our order, the district court received and considered a stipulation filed by the parties on this question. The stipulation revealed that Pearcy was eventually released from the state mental hospital but was later detained in the Lee County jail pursuant to another petition for commitment under § 22-52-7. Pearcy remained incarcerated at the county jail until his commitment to yet another state facility. The district court considered this evidence and found that Pearcy had standing and therefore was a proper class representative. Since this court retained jurisdiction over this action pending a determination on the standing issue, the case is now before us again. Before considering the claims of the plaintiffs-appellants, however, this court must examine whether the named plaintiff has standing to represent the class.

Standing

The jurisdiction of federal courts is limited by Article III of the United States Constitution to “cases or controversies.” Standing is one aspect of the ease or controversy requirement. “The constitutional limits on standing eliminate claims in which the plaintiff has failed to make out a case or controversy between himself *1456 and the defendant.” Gladstone, Realtors v. Village of Bellwood, 441 U.S. 91, 99, 99 S.Ct. 1601, 1607, 60 L.Ed.2d 66, 76 (1979). Any plaintiff attempting to invoke the power of a federal court must demonstrate a “personal stake in the outcome of the controversy as to assure that concrete adverseness which sharpens the presentation of issues” and thereby enable the court to resolve constitutional questions. Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, 204, 82 S.Ct. 691, 703, 7 L.Ed.2d 663, 678 (1962). See Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 498, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 2205, 45 L.Ed.2d 343, 354 (1975). A demonstration of this personal stake is made by the plaintiffs showing that he “has sustained or is immediately in danger of sustaining some direct injury” and that his injury or threat of injury is “real and immediate,” not “conjectural” or “hypothetical.” O’Shea v. Littleton, 414 U.S. 488, 494, 94 S.Ct. 669, 675, 38 L.Ed.2d 674, 682 (1974). Individual standing requirements must be met by anyone attempting to represent his own interest or those of a class. If the named plaintiff seeking to represent a class fails to establish the requisite case or controversy, he may not seek relief on his behalf or on that of the class. 5 414 U.S. at 494, 94 S.Ct. at 675, 38 L.Ed.2d at 682. See also Sosna v. Iowa, 419 U.S. 393, 402-03, 95 S.Ct. 553, 559, 42 L.Ed.2d 532, 542; 1 Newberg, Class Actions § 1072 (1977).

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744 F.2d 1452, 1984 U.S. App. LEXIS 17328, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jean-p-lynch-individually-and-on-behalf-of-all-persons-similarly-ca11-1984.